CBI to probe custody deaths, says TN CM
Under pressure from a growing national and international outcry over police atrocities that led to custody deaths of a father and son duo, P. Jayaraj and Bennix, from Thoothukudi district in the south, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami said he would be asking for a CBI enquiry subject to the high court permitting.
The government’s decision will be informed to the Madras High Court, which is seized of the matter, and its approval secured before transferring the case, he told reporters in Salem.
The Opposition DMK said the Chief Minister had ordered for a CBI probe due to “intense pressure” from people and political parties, besides the media. Party President M.K. Stalin said if the government had the determination to provide justice in this matter, those allegedly involved in the incident would not be “roaming free” even now.
P. Jayaraj and his son Bennix had been arrested for ‘violating’ lockdown norms over business hours of their cellphone shop, died at a hospital in Kovilpatti on June 23.
Meanwhile, news of another death caused by torture at the hands of the police during interrogation emerged, again from the South proving that the Sathankulam custodial death case was not just a one off incident.
Close on its heels follows the death of a 25year-old auto driver of Veer a ker al am pu th ur near Tenkasi, on Saturday. Even as the embers triggered by the death of the father and son in police custody in Sathankulam are yet to die, an auto driver, Kumar es an of Veer a kerala mputhurv ill age, died at the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital on Saturday night, allegedly due to injuries sustained due to torture in police custody.
The victim had been taken to the police station regarding a land feud with his neighbour on May 10, and allegedly tortured by Veer a ker al am pu th ur sub-inspector Chandrasekaran and constable Kumar.
The young auto driver, according to his father, Na van e et ha krishn an (60), was beaten black and blue by the sub-inspector and constable. “They made him lie down and stood on both his thighs and kicked him on his stomach and private parts,” said the aged farmer.