Custodial death case: 5 Kerala cops held guilty

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: UDAYAKUMAR, 26, WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY IN SEPT 2005 WITH HIS FRIEND FROM A PARK IN THIRUVANANTHPURAM

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Tuesday found two police officers guilty of murdering a man in custody and three others for destroying evidence in the case in 2005.

Udayakumar, 26, who used to work in a scrap shop in Thiruvananthpuram, was taken into custody in September 2005 from a park with his friend Suresh, who was involved in several cases.

Prosecution said Udayakumar had ₹4,000 in his possession when he was taken into custody and the police assumed the money was stolen and subjected him to thirddegree interrogation.

Though Udayakumar was let off initially after his innocence was proved, the prosecution said when he sought his money back, the policemen falsely implicated him in another case and began torturing him again which led to his death the following day.

As per the post-mortem report, he suffered more than 40 injuries.

There were six accused in the case filed in connection with his custodial death. The first and second accused— K Jithakumar and SV Sreekumar, both constables at the time — were found guilty of murder while three others — TK Haridas, then assistant commissioner of police later retried as superintendent of police, circle inspector EK Sabu and sub-inspector Ajith Kumar— were charged with destroying evidence. Another accused KV Soman died during the course of the trial.

During the trial the CBI produced an iron pipe as evidence saying it was used to hit the victim on his thigh and later for “urutti kola,” a third- degree method of rolling a rod over the body to extract a confession.

The trial hit several snags and delays in its course as several key witnesses turned hostile.

The central investigation agency took over investigation of the case in 2008, after Udayakumar’s mother, Prabhavati Amma, 68, moved the Kerala high court with a plea to hand over the case to the central agency alleging that the state police was dragging its feet in the investigation.

“I am happy I got justice. I pray no mother should undergo my plight. I hope the court will give maximum punishment to the guilty,” said Prabhavati Amma.