INDIA: Police brutalise, kill Nigerian, spark protests

A NIGERIAN, Leohand Lyeanyi, has died after he was allegedly assaulted by personnel of the Indian Police Force on Sunday, March 28.

Tensions persisted for days in the Tilak Nagar area of Delhi as Africans gathered outside the police station.

According to a report by SaharaReporters, an eyewitness claimed Lyeanyi died because of an injury inflicted on him by police personnel using a Lathi, a long, heavy iron-bound bamboo stick used as a weapon. 

What led to Lyeanyi’s death?

The eyewitness said the deceased was on his way to pick his brother from the airport when the sad incident happened.

“Yesterday, this young man that the policemen killed went to a lady’s birthday, and he was expecting his brother to arrive in India that morning. So, he went to the birthday party because most people saw him at the event. He wanted to spend time there so that before morning, he would go to the airport to pick up his brother. 

“So, he left the birthday venue in the morning and went to the airport. On his way out, those policemen arrested him. When he was arrested, they found some money in his possession, and they wanted to take that money from him by force. He didn’t allow them to take the money so he was hit in the head. When this thing was happening, one Indian man was there videoing what was going on, so when they hit him, the guy fell down and died. 

“We (Africans) asked them to give us the CCTV footage because there was CCTV camera there, but they removed the camera. The Indian guy that has the video coverage of what happened there, they took the video from him. Now, Africans started shouting because the man that was killed was a gentle man. We started shouting black lives matter.”

Indian Police gave a different acount

A high ranking police officer however gave a different account of the incident, saying they received information about Lyeanyi’s death at around 3.30 am on Sunday from the DDU hospital.

He went on to say that the Force was waiting for the post-mortem report of the victim. The police also said that they have found CCTV footage wherein the victim could be seen stepping out of an auto-rickshaw and sitting near a shop. He then collapsed, hitting his head on the ground.

The Indian Police further said there was nobody around him, adding that two cases have been registered against the violent mob, and that a probe was on to unravel the matter.

Violent protests erupt

Following the ugly incident, protesters (mainly Nigerians) broke glasses at the hospital, reports say.

They also went on to attack officials of the High Commission of Nigeria led by a consular officer, who had come to meet them.

The protesters accused the officials of supporting the killing of Lyeanyi by the India police.

“The Indian police called the representatives of the Nigerian High Commission because there is no ambassador yet,” a source said.