A 27-year-old resident of B.V. Colony, Vyasarpadi, died in police custody on Sunday. The death of the youth, A. Karthik, has brought the issue of custodial death to the forefront again.
According to the police, Karthik and three others were picked up by a team for a robbery case on Sunday morning and taken to the MKB Nagar station.
The police allege that Karthik had several cases, including a few cases of murder against him, within the MKB Nagar police station limits. The police claim that he was drunk when he was picked up, and started vomiting while being interrogated at the station.
He was immediately rushed to a private hospital nearby, but was shifted to a bigger hospital after his health started deteriorating, the police added.
The team took him to the Government Stanley Hospital, but he was declared ‘brought dead’.
The body has been sent for post-mortem.
‘Rushed to hospital’
Karthik was drinking heavily for the past three days without taking any food, a senior police officer said.
After the four persons were picked up for questioning, the MKB Nagar police gave them food, but Karthik refused to eat till noon. Then he started vomiting and was rushed to the hospital, the officer added.
V. Suresh, a human rights activist and advocate, said there were a lot of loopholes in the police version about the death of the accused. He questioned the need for the police to lock him up when the accused was supposed to have consumed alcohol without having eaten anything for three days.
Bid to cover up
“If he was not medically fit, the prisoner should have been taken to a hospital first, before the police started the interrogation. This is a clear case of custodial death, with the police trying to cover it up by claiming that the accused had been drinking heavily,” Mr. Suresh added.
A post-mortem examination should be carried out by senior medical specialists as per the guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission, he said.
Mr. Suresh also called for an inquest to be carried out by the Revenue Divisional Officer.