Man dies in custody of Neelankarai police

CHENNAI: A 22-year-old burglary suspect, who was taken in for questioning for a property offence by the Neelankarai police, died in custody on Friday morning.
The crime wing of the Neelankarai police had picked up V Anthony Raj, of Ezhil Nagar in Perumbakkam, and his accomplice on Thursday regarding a break-in. The duo was taken to Neelankarai police station. Though the friend was released, Anthony was detained. Based on Anthony’s confession, the police decided to recover the gold jewellery which he had stolen and hidden in different places.




Since he told them that some of the items were in his lover’s house in Kannagi Nagar, they took him there. On the way, Anthony is said to have developed health complications and was rushed to a private hospital where doctors referred him to Government Royapettah Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The police said Anthony had been abandoned by his family as a teenager after he took to committing crimes. Thrown out of home he stayed with friends for a while and later moved in with his married lover. The police records show that there were at least eight other cases including robbery and break-ins pending against him in Neelankarai, Thoraipakkam and Pazhavanthangal.

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident. Senior police officials including additional commissioner of police M C Sarangan and joint commissioner (south) Maheshwari visited the police station. They also checked the CCTV cameras installed on the premises.

“Anthony had been unwell when they had nabbed him. While they took him along to recover the gold jewellery, he complained of uneasiness. Our personnel took him to a nearby hospital for medical aid,” said Sarangan, adding he could not divulge details as the issue was under inquiry.

A postmortem will be done at Royapettah Government Hospital, which is likely to take place on Saturday.

Neelankarai police station was in the news four years ago when a 14-year-old was shot in the neck and injured when a police inspector fired at him during interrogation. The boy had been caught trying to break a hundi at Muthumariamman temple. The police detained him illegally at the station and did not inform his parents.