A 50-year-old woman was found dead inside a toilet in a police station in Bhojpur district of Bihar after being allegedly detained for three days though there was no complaint or FIR registered against her.

Shobha Devi was allegedly found hanging from a gamcha inside the women’s restroom in Piro police station, around 92km southwest of Patna, on Sunday.

The incident again raises questions on the claims of chief minister Nitish Kumar about better policing and law and order in the state.

According to her family members, the police forcibly took away Shobha and her son Prakash Kumar from their residence at Mothi village on the night of September 9 without giving any reason.

They said Shobha was fasting that day on account of Teej festival. Her husband Munna Prasad Chandravanshi, who works as a labourer in Jharkhand, was not at home. He hails from one of the Extremely Backward Castes in the state.

“We went to the police station. But the police officials did not allow us to meet my sister or her son. We were threatened and shooed away,” Shobha’s brother Munna Kumar told reporters.

“Days passed but we were still not allowed to meet them. The police did not give us any information. Suddenly, some policeman called and informed us on Sunday (September 12) that she had died,” he added.

Prakash said that both of them were kept at different places in the police station and alleged that they were beaten up by the officers.

Police sources said that Shobha and her son were brought to the police station in connection with the murder of a rural medical practitioner Mantosh Kumar of the same village around 10 days ago.

Mantosh’s brother Shekhar Suman had registered an FIR against two persons — one named and another unnamed — but the complaint did not include the names of either Shobha or Prakash.

After local people came to know about the woman’s death, they assembled outside the Piro police station in large numbers. Several local CPM leaders also joined them in support.

Sensing that a possible law and order situation might arise, senior administrative and police officers rushed to the spot and took away Shobha’s body for post-mortem at Ara Sadar Hospital.

Since Shobha died inside the police station, it technically becomes a case of custodial death. The police also did not produce her before any magistrate within 24 hours of taking her away from her house — making it a case of illegal detention.

Bhojpur superintendent of police Vinay Tiwari has asked Piro sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Ashok Kumar to enquire into the incident. Several police officials were suspended on Monday on the basis of preliminary findings.

“We have suspended Piro station house officer (SHO), another officer on duty and four women constables who were supposed to safeguard her, on the basis of the preliminary findings of the SDPO in the death of Shobha Devi,” Tiwari told The Telegraph on Monday.

Asked about Shobha’s detention, Tiwari said: “She was not detained. She was brought for interrogation in the murder case of one Mantosh Kumar. She confessed to her involvement and told the police about four other persons being involved in the crime.”

Tiwari admitted that the deceased woman was kept for three days at the police station and the SDPO’s findings also corroborated it. However, he claimed that it was a case of “suicidal death”.

The police are yet to receive Shobha’s post-mortem report.