Thiruvananthapuram: The alleged custodial death of a remand prisoner at the Peerumade sub-jail has put the state government and the police force in a tight spot.
The victim Raj Kumar, 49, who was taken into custody on June 12 in connection with a financial fraud case, died at a local hospital on June 21. The autopsy report has revealed that he died due to ‘blunt trauma’ sustained to the abdomen and there were as many as 32 wounds on his body.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the assembly that a special team had been constituted to probe the ‘mysterious circumstances’ surrounding the incident at the Peerumade sub-jail.
Crush injuries on his thighs, which proved to be fatal, indicated that the victim might have subjected to ‘uruttal’, an infamous third degree method employed by police to extract confession.
DGP Loknath Behera has ordered the Crime Branch ADGP to form a special investigation team to probe the case. The team will have a police superintendent and personnel from other units can be included if necessary. The squad’s functioning will be assessed by Crime Branch IG (Ernakulam) on a daily basis.
Thrikkakkara MLA P T Thomas, who brought up the issue in the Assembly, said the victim was picked up by cops from Puliyanmala near Kattappana on June 12 and there were several witnesses to the police action.
The police kept him in custody for 105 hours without recording the arrest or producing him in the court. Gopakumar, a local CPM leader and president of the Pattom Colony Cooperative Bank, had accompanied the police in the vehicle in which Kumar was taken to the station, Thomas alleged.
“How did a person hailing from Peerumade manage to secure membership in the Pattom Colony Cooperative Bank. All the persons behind these dubious deals should be brought to book,” Thomas demanded.
Kumar was running a private money lending firm called Haritha Finance in Nedumkandam.
8 cops suspended
Meanwhile, eight police officers attached to the Nedumkandam police station, including the assistant sub-inspector (ASI), have been suspended and five others, including the circle inspector (CI), transferred in connection with the incident.
The autopsy report pointed to severe torture of the deceased who ran a finance firm at Thookupalam near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
The disciplinary action against the cops comes after the Idukki district police chief said that the accused, Vagamon native Kumar, died after he was assaulted in custody. The report also pointed at dereliction of duty from the part of police officers.
Nedumkandam SI K A Sabu, ASI C B Rejimon, police drivers Niyas and Sajimon Antony are among the suspended cops. They were on duty when Kumar was taken into custody. Nedumkandam CI Reji M Kunniparamban, civil police officers Biju Lucas, Joshi, Rajesh and Geethu Gopinath were transferred.
Kochi range DIG Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar said that more investigations would be held on the incident.
Though CI Rejimon was on leave on the day Kumar was taken into custody, the officer was transferred because he as the station house officer had failed to inform his seniors about the incident, district police chief K B Venugopal said. The district police chief further said that an inquiry would also be held against him for trying to conceal the events that happened at the police station.
The police had arrested Kumar over a loan fraud. He was taken to various locations to retrieve the money, but the cops could find only a part of the money.
Gruesome injuries
The post-mortem report from the Kottayam Medical College Hospital hinted that there were 32 injuries on Kumar's body. The notorious third-degree torture called ‘uruttal’ was also employed on him, it is suspected. The injury to vital organs and pneumonia led to Kumar's death, as per the post-mortem report.
The autopsy report said that pneumonia could have been contracted from the injuries to vital organs. Skin had come off from various parts on the hands and legs, while there were markings of a heavy man standing on the legs.
There were wound marks below the knee, while thigh muscles were found to have been crushed. There were also assault marks on the foot and bones of the left leg fingers were broken.
Tortured for four days?
Kumar, the owner of Haritha Finance at Thookupalam, was arrested for financial fraud on June 12. He died on June 21, while he was on remand.
Along with Kumar, the police had also taken into custody the firm’s managing director Shalini Haridas and manager Manju. But their arrest was recorded only on June 15. It has been alleged that the police tortured the accused for four days while in custody. Kumar died at the Peermade taluk hospital on June 21.
The police, however, said that Kumar was not tortured and that he died of pneumonia. The investigations into his death and the fraud have been handed over to the Idukki district crime branch.
Nedumkandam station
Nedumkandam is one of the busiest police stations in Idukki district. As action was taken against the thirteen cops of the 52 personnel at the station, Mullaperiyar CI C Jayakumar was given the temporary responsibility of the Nedumkandam CI, while Kattapan SI S Kiran was transferred to Nedumkandam.
DIG Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar checked the official documents at the Nedumkandam police station on Tuesday.
District police chief K B Venugopal, Kattapana DySP N C Rajmohan and special branch DySP Pious George reached the station and checked the register and other documents.
Torture in Munnar too
Meanwhile, four cops, including the SI, at the Munnar police station in the Idukki district have been suspended after a complaint of custody torture. Two cops were transferred.
Munnar native K Satheesh Kumar, a 46-year-old history sheeter, had filed a complaint, alleging that he was tortured in custody. Satheesh had gone absconding after he attacked a migrant labourer four months ago. He was nabbed from Palakkad.
Satheesh is an accused in seven criminal cases at Munnar and Devikulam stations.
Munnar SI K A Shyam Kumar, ASI N Rajesh, cops M Thomas, and Abdul Salam were suspended by the Kochi range DIG, based on a report by the Munnar DySP. Civil police officers Suresh Kumar and Vincil Rasheed, who were on guard duty at the station, were transferred to the Idukki AR camp.
