The conviction of the police personnel accused of torturing Udayakumar to death at Fort police station in Thiruvananthapuram is the culmination of a 13-year-long legal struggle waged by his mother, Prabhavathy Amma. The major developments in the case are as follows:
September 27, 2005: Udayakumar, a native of Keezharannur in Neduncaud, dies in police custody at Fort police station. He was picked up along with an accused in a theft case.
September 30, 2005: The post-mortem report attributes Udayakumar’s death to custodial torture. Severe injuries inflicted on both his thighs using some tool and the intense torture had caused the death, said the report.
October 3, 2005: Two policemen attached to the Fort station, Sreekumar of Neyyatinkara and Jithakumar of Vazhuthacaud, surrender before the then city police commissioner Manoj Abraham.
October 4, 2005: Police stage a drama with a dummy while the accused are produced before the court.
October 5, 2005: The Udayakumar custodial torture death case is handed over to the crime branch. The then chief minister Oommen Chandy directs the district collector to build a house for Udayakumar’s family. Soman, the third accused and the CI squad constable of Fort Station, is arrested. DGP-level probe launched into the dummy drama.
October 6, 2005: Crime branch startsprobe under SP Balachandran.
October 10, 2005: Three personnel, including Pettah CI, suspended for staging the dummy drama on court premises.
February 13, 2006: Crime branch DySP K B Balachandran submits a 300-page charge sheet in which Jithakumar, S Sreekumar of AR camp and Soman of crime squad are listed as the accused.
July 2, 2007: The main witness in the case Suresh Kumar is arrested after he does not appear before the court.
July 4, 2007: Two witnesses, head constable of Thiruvallom police station D Vijayakumar and constable Anil Kumar switchsides.
October 17, 2007: The CBI starts its preliminary probe.
October 20, 2009: CBI arrests head constable of Thiruvallam police station D Vijayakumar and constable Anil Kumar.
September 27, 2010: The CBI files a charge sheet which invokes sections related to murder against three police officers. A crucial evidence was the statement of Vijayakumar, a head constable at the Fort station to his superior over phone. “Your henchmen have tortured a fellow to death here,” he told the senior officer who was also a school mate.
December 14, 2010: The CBI charges three more police officers with murder.
May 12, 2014: CBI files a single charge sheet by including SP T K Haridas as the seventh accused.
June 27, 2014: The high court stays the trial in the Udayakumar case.
March 31, 2016: The high court orders speedy trial in the case and also directs the government to grant a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to Udayakumar’s mother.
March 10, 2018: The third accused in the case Soman (56) of Kilimanur dies.
July 20, 2018: The arguments in the case conclude at Thiruvananthapuram CBI court.
July 24, 2018: Two cops – Ajith Kumar and Jithakumar – convicted of death and two others (Sreekumar and Sabu) of conspiracy and evidence destruction.
July 25, 2018: Ajith Kumar and Jithakumar sentenced to death; others get three year in jail and a fine of Rs 5,000 each.
