Lok Ayukta issues notice to police officers

The Lok Ayukta has opened an inquiry into the suspected custodial torture that allegedly precipitated the death of S.R. Sreejith at Varappuzha in Ernakulam.

Lok Ayukta Pius C. Kuriakose and Upa Lok Ayukta K.P. Balachandran ordered issuance of notices to A.V. George, District Police Chief, Ernakulam Rural; Deepak, sub-inspector, Varappuzha police station; Jithin Raj, Santhosh Kumar and Sumesh, all civil police officers; in connection with the suspected third-degree treatment of a detainee.

The judges said the complainant, M.V. Allias, had made out a case for detailed investigation. They asked the police to produce all documents related to the arrest of Sreejith, his treatment records and autopsy report. They also subpoenaed the police records related to the issue.

Mr. Allias, a social activist, alleged that the civil police officers, all members of a unit called the Rural Tiger Force (RTF) had arrested Sreejith for no reason. He argued that they had wrongly implicated the youth in the attack on the house of one Vasudevan. Mr. Allias said Vasudevan’s son had told the media later that Sreejith was not involved in the crime that cost his father his life.

The RTF members arrested Sreejith at 10 p.m. on April 8 and detained him at the Varappuzha station. They, later, took him in a serious condition to the Taluk Hospital, Paravoor. After his health worsened, the police shifted Sreejith to the Government Medical College, Kalammassery. However, there was no CT scan facility there. The police then transferred Sreejith to a private hospital at Karanalloor where he died at 5.30 p.m. on April 9.

Mr. Allias deposed that intestinal rupture caused due to the application of brute force with a blunt instrument had caused the death. He submitted that the police had suspended Jithish Raj and Sumesh in connection with the alleged custodial torture. The Lok Ayukta will hear the case again on May 22, 2018.