Employer tortures UP man to death over suspicion of theft

A 33-year-old man died after allegedly being given electric shocks and thrashed by his employer over suspicion of theft in Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Thursday.

A video purporting to show Shivam Johri tied to a pole in a semi-naked state and wincing in pain as a man beats him with a belt was widely circulated on social media on Wednesday.

Circle Officer (City) B S Veer told PTI, "Johri worked as a manager at Suri Transports. The company's owner Neeraj Gupta accused him of theft and took him to the cloth firm of one Kunal Arora."

"According to the police complaint, Johri was tied to a pillar, his shirt removed and hit repeatedly with a belt. Gupta, Arora and six others also gave him electric shocks," Veer added.

When Johri lost consciousness, Gupta informed his family members that he had been electrocuted. Johri's family members took him to a hospital where he succumbed on Wednesday, the police said.

The police have sent the body for a post-mortem and begun an investigation.

Based on the complaint lodged by Johri's family, a first information report (FIR) was registered against eight people, including Gupta and Arora, under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code on Wednesday.