Six policemen were suspended on Thursday following the death of an infant, who was allegedly crushed under police boots during a search operation in Jharkhand’s Giridih district on Tuesday night.

According to the police sources, a search team had gone to the home of an accused in an assault case following g a non-bailable warrant issued by the Giridih district court against him.

The accused, Bhushan Pandey, escaped from his house at Koshongondodighi village under Deori police station on Tuesday night.

Giridih superintendent of police Amit Renu said that six police personnel who had gone to the house of the accused for the search were suspended. Deori police station officer-in-charge Sangam Pathak has been sent to police lines.

Neha Devi, wife of the accused’s son Ramesh Pandey and mother of the deceased baby boy, said the police team reached the house for the search in the wee hours of Wednesday.

“It was well past midnight (around 3am) when the police team repeatedly knocked at our door. Since we were in deep sleep, we could not open the door. They shouted for our father-in-law who had escaped from the house. They then forcibly opened the door and entered the house. All of us went out of the house out of fear and allowed the police to search each room of the house.

“However, my four-day-old baby was sleeping on a mat in a room and when we entered the room after the search was completed by the police team, we found the baby lying motionless. I feared that the police team might have trampled the baby accidentally during the search operation,” said Neha.

After a protest by the villagers, Pathak reached the spot and took custody of the baby’s body and sent it for autopsy at Giridih Sadar Hospital on Wednesday morning.

Renu said: “We have taken the action following a prima facie investigation based on statements of the relatives and the neighbours of the accused. However, we are still awaiting the post-mortem report of the baby.”

Following chief minister Hemant Soren’s order for a probe into the incident, a team led by Giridih deputy development commissioner Shashi Bhusan Mehra and SP Renu visited the spot on Wednesday evening.