Malappuram: The family of Thamir Jifri, who died in police custody, has criticised the CBI charge-sheet for allegedly excluding the role of senior officials, including the then District Police Chief, S Sujith Das. They have also objected to the dilution of charges against the accused.

The CBI has dropped the murder charge (IPC Section 302) earlier framed by the Crime Branch, instead invoking IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). While the charge-sheet acknowledges that Thamir’s death resulted from police torture, only five officers — four DANSAF (Drug Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force) personnel and a former sub-inspector — have been named as accused.

According to the family, the charge-sheet ignores the alleged conspiracy and shields senior officers who directed the operation. “There is no murder charge in the charge-sheet against the officials involved in the crime. We had submitted testimony against then District Police Chief S Sujith Das, but he has not been included in the list of accused. The DANSAF personnel were only acting on the instructions of senior officials, yet the conspiracy angle has been entirely omitted,” Thamir's brother Haris Jifri told Onmanorama.

The accused in the case include: Jinesh, Senior Civil Police Officer (SCPO), Tanur police station; Albin Augustin, SCPO, Parappanangadi station; Abhimanyu, SCPO, Kalpakanchery station; Vipin, SCPO, Tirurangadi station and former Tanur SI Krishnalal. All four SCPOs were part of the DANSAF unit. These are the same five officers named earlier by the Crime Branch during its initial probe.

The case
Thamir, a Tanur resident, was arrested with narcotic substances on August 1, 2023, and died in police custody. While police claimed he swallowed the drugs upon spotting them, the post-mortem report revealed that both the presence of drugs and physical assault contributed to his death, pointing to custodial torture.

Initially, eight officers were suspended. The Crime Branch first handled the investigation, but the family approached the court expressing dissatisfaction. The probe was then handed over to the CBI.