22-year-old Salman Khan has lost his right arm after he was illegally detained and severely tortured during his four days in police custody at Varthur police station in Bengaluru.

Salman, a resident of Varthur in east Bengaluru, worked at a chicken shop before he lost his job in the Covid crisis. He was allegedly picked up by the police in connection with the theft of car batteries in October-end.

Salman was kept in police custody at the Varthur Police Station from October 27 to 31, in violation of several protocols, said a fact-finding report.

He was also allegedly not provided food and water through the detention. No FIR was registered against him, his family was not informed, he was not produced before the Magistrate with 24 hours of detention, added the report.

The report was prepared by a team comprising of activists from the National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations, the All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice, the Campaign Against Hate Speech and independent advocates.

A month after the incident, the three police officers who allegedly tortured Salman were suspended. Nagabhushan Gowda HC, Nagaraj BN and Shivaraj H — two of them are constables — were suspended on 2 December.

“I was taken to the Varthur police station where I was assaulted mercilessly by three men. I confessed to stealing three car batteries. They took me to the people to whom I had sold the batteries. I was again brought to the police station and asked to confess to other thefts which I had not committed,” the 22-year-old said while speaking to The Indian Express.

Salman claimed that police intensified the torture after his refusal to confess to other crimes.

“I was tied upside down and beaten badly. Three cops assaulted me for three days. They targeted one body part at a time. They beat my right hand and also kicked in their legs one after the other. My pleadings went unheard,” Salman said.