MADURAI: Three policemen were placed under suspension pending departmental inquiry, after a man, who had lodged a complaint regarding his daughter who went missing, was found dead at a police station in the outskirts of the city in the early hours of Thursday.Sub-inspector Jayaraman, head constable Solai Kannan and constable Murugan of the Oomachikulam police station were suspended by Superintendent of Police Asra Garg, in a rare case of policemen being penalised in a case of custodial death. Garg issued the suspension orders on the grounds that the policemen had not prevented Markandeyan, 48, a building contractor, from committing suicide, despite being on duty when the incident is said to have taken place.Markandeyan, who had lodged a complaint with the Oomachikulam police station a few days ago that his daughter had been abducted by his Coimbatore-based relative Kumar, had been found dead at the police station under suspicious circumstances. On Wednesday night, he had been summoned to the police station and, relatives say, tortured by the policemen, based on a counter-complaint filed by the parents of Kumar’s friends, after Markandeyan handed them over to the police for questioning regarding his daughter’s and Kumar’s whereabouts. The police version is that Markandeyan hanged himself using his lungi in the middle of the night—even as the three policemen were fast asleep at the station.The SP also visited the Government Rajaji Hospital, where Markandeyan’s body had been sent for post-mortem, and assured the relatives of the deceased that stringent action would be taken against the policemen if they were found to have had a hand in the death.
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