Arrested cops seek probe in custodial death

TRIVANDRUM: Three policemen held for the custodial death of a young man say they were being made scapegoats to save superiors.

In a video message addressed to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and police chief Loknath Behera, they requested their intervention to get the investigation process straight.

Police in civvies picked up SR Sreejith, 26, from his home in the port city of Kochi on the night of April 6 and they allegedly began kicking and beating him up from that moment.

They shifted him to a hospital the next day where he died. The autopsy found 18 wounds, big and small, on the body of the young labourer.

The police chief had since suspended seven oficers, including the circle inspec- tor, and constituted a departmental inquiry headed by inspector general S. Sreejith.

On Wednesday, he arrested Jitin Raj, Santosh Kumar and Sumesh, all belonging to the Rural Tiger Force (RTF) formed by the district police chief to catch criminals on the run.

They face charges of murder of a man arrested in a case of mistaken identity.

Four other cops, including Varappuzha sub-inspector GS Deepak and North Paravur circle-inspector Crispin Sam, are also under suspension.

“They were arrested based on solid evidence. We’ll arrest all the culprits in the case,” Sreejith told reporters in Kochi.

“We have also constituted a ivemember medical board to analyse the post-mortem report, which is vital for further investigation.” The RTF personnel were accused of acting on false information that Sreejith was part of a gang that attacked his neighbour, Vasudevan, who later committed suicide.

“His mother woke him up and sent him with us. We then handed him over the police arrived from the local police station,” one of them was seen saying in the video.

“We took a tuk-tuk and left for another place a kilometre away. They didn’t talk to us after that. So strongly feel that there’s a conspiracy against us. We also should get justice.” The Congress-led opposition rejected the ongoing investigation and asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take up the moral responsibility for the collapse of law and order.

Vijayan and his senior ministers are away in Hyderabad attending the national meeting of his Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Hyderabad.