Lautoka victim shows wounds he says were inflicted by Police officers

Rajneel Singh writhed in pain on his Lautoka Hospital bed last night.

The wounds on his  body told a gruesome story.

They were slowly healing but Mr Singh, 32, still felt unbearable pain.

It comes admist claims Mr Singh found details of plans to destabilise the Government on a computer in his internet cafe.

The Lautoka internet café owner claimed  some Police officers then “tortured” him using “hot rods” and dumped him in a pine forest between Nadi and Sigatoka.

The criss-cross scars on his back (see photo), and burn marks on his hands and legs  appear consistent with Mr Singh’s story.

Later, he alleged, officers wanted him to change his statement to say the scars were self-inflicted. He declined and called acting Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho. He is now being guarded by military officers and Police officers from Suva have been sent to investigate his claims.

“How can it be self-inflicted? Look at my back. It is practically impossible to do it,” he said.

“They accused me of making these marks on my own body, that’s just strange because how can I make those marks on my back myself,” he said.

“I want the public to be careful when dealing with the Police because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else and I am lucky to be alive.”

He claimed the officers responsible were not happy he sent the plans to destabilise the Government directly to Brigadier-General Qiliho, and the Attorney-General’s office. He said he found the plans in one of his computers. The previous user had not logged off.

Brigadier-General Qiliho said the content of the email he received was designed to destabilise Goverment and target people in Government and those close to Government including himself.

“But I want to assure the safety of the public and that we are investigating,” he said.

“The team are back in the West to continue investigations and I’ve been updated on the progress of the initial interviews.

“They are following two leads and it would be premature of me to be making any comments.”

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