The Kerala State Police Complaints Authority (KSPCA) inquiring the death of a 27-year-old man after being taken into custody by the Parassala police has confirmed custodial violence as the cause of death and directed the Kerala State Police Chief to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) for probing the case further.
Pronouncing the order here on Tuesday, Justice K. Narayana Kurup, KSPCA chairman, also directed the State government to pay a compensation of Rs.10 lakh to the kin of the deceased within six weeks.
He also took a strong exception to an inter-departmental inquiry exonerating the accused officers and directed the State Police Chief to constitute a SIT consisting of officers nominated by the SPCA to probe the case and file a chargesheet against the delinquent officers.
Report in a fortnight
The State Police Chief is further directed to depute a Superintendent of Police to discuss the modalities to be followed with the residuary investigation, to be conducted within 10 days. The investigation team will report to the KSPCA once in a fortnight.
In its order, the KSPCA stated that the police stand that the victim, Sreejeev, died after consuming Furadan was a Machiavellian plot to cover up the brutal assault under custody. It also dismissed the police version that the victim had concealed the pesticide inside his underwear, terming it a satanic design to divert attention from the real issue and verified that Sreejeev died of severe muscle trauma inflicted by the police.
After due consultations with toxicologists and forensic scientists, the KSPCA confirmed that it was impossible for a person to swallow 63 grams of the pesticide which consists 97 percent of sandy particles coated with carbofuran.
“That apart, Sreejeev having studied only up to fifth standard can not be imputed with a basic idea of toxicology of the insecticide to calculate the lethal dose,’’ the judge observed.
According to the KSPCA, the police version of suicide also stands exploded as a stomach wash of the deceased at Medical College Hospital in Thiruvanathapuram was negative for the pesticide. Further, a qualitative analysis of stomach wash also found no evidence of the pesticide.
Real motive
During the investigation, the KSPCA also found that the real motive behind Sreejeev’s arrest was to keep him away from his girlfriend’s marriage at the behest of her father and also it discovered that the victim had been blindly administered a total dose of 230 mg of atropine at the MCH, triggered by self-serving statement of the police. The KSPCA also verified the suicide note allegedly recovered by the police from the victim’s room at a lodge in Attingal with graphologists and termed it part of a desperate attempt by the police to make it appear that the victim had committed suicide.
Taking a firm stance
Directs Kerala State Police Chief to constitute a
special investigation team
Takes exception to an inter-departmental inquiry
exonerating accused officers
