Custody death: 3 policemen suspended STAFF REPORTER
The State police have suspended three police officers suspected to be responsible for the overlook which resulted in a detainee allegedly committing suicide by consuming poison at the Karamana police station here early on Sunday. The suspended officials were sub inspector, Karamana, K. Vijayakumar, an assistant sub inspector, who was the station house night officer on Saturday, and the head constable in charge of the police station's General Diary on that day. S. Santosh Kumar Nair, 45, alias Chaluku Chandran, consumed a lethal pesticide inside the toilet of the station house at around 7.30 a.m. on Sunday. The police rushed him to the Medical College Hospital where he died an hour later. Forensic doctors, who conducted a post mortem examination, told investigators that Chandran had died of poisoning. The victim had consumed a phosphorous-based pesticide commonly used to kill worms which ate into the flesh of plantain stems. Investigators said forensic experts found no contusions, abrasions or beat marks on Chandran's body. They conducted the autopsy in the presence of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, the Revenue Divisional Officer and the Deputy Commissioner of Police. The police also communicated Chandran's death to the National and State Human Rights Commissions. Both the agencies would inquire into the incident separately. The police suspected that Chandran had concealed the small pesticide bottle in his rectum, a method used commonly by convicts to smuggle marijuana into prison. Chandran was accused in nearly 40 theft cases, including house breaks, in Thiruvanathapuram, Kollam and Alappuzha districts. According to the police records, Chandran was taken into custody around 11.45 p.m. on Friday after the police received a call from a house abutting the Killipalam bund road that one drunken person was creating trouble in the neighbourhood. The caller was subsequently identified as Chandran's wife, Kushala. The local people had restrained Chandran and handed him over to the police. Investigators said the police did not frisk Chandran properly or question him whether he had hidden anything in his body cavities. The senior officers were responsible for the laxity of their men. The police said Chandran had asked permission to use the toilet at 7 p.m. He started retching after exiting the toilet and told a woman employed as a part time sweeper at the station that he had consumed poison. The police rushed him to the hospital after she raised an alarm. Chandran is survived by his wife and three children. A large number of Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party activists gathered outside the Karamana police station to protest against Chandran's death. Keywords: Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Custody death, Police, Suspension RELATED TOPICS crime, law and justice police police law enforcement Email the Editor -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
