Six police personnel have been arrested in connection with the alleged custodial torture and death of 25-year-old Chennai horseman Vignesh.
Initially, a case of suspicious death was registered but after an autopsy report, which indicated 13 injuries on the body, the case was altered to that of murder. The report also said his leg was fractured. Vignesh had died on April 19.
As the first step, police had suspended two police officers in connection with the case. According to police sources, the six personnel arrested were charged with murder and atrocities under the SC/ST Act. Arun Halder, vice-chairman of National Commission of Scheduled Castes (NCSC) who conducted an inquiry on April 4 into the case, had said the Prevention of Atrocity Act was subsequently added.
Police sources said one of the six arrested was a home guard. The accused were produced before a court and remanded. Two of them were arrested on Friday while four others were arrested on Saturday.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, who had announced a Rs 10-lakh solatium to the grieving family, said in the assembly that the post-mortem report of Vignesh sheds fresh light on the brutal treatment at police stations while converting the case to murder.
On April 18, two young men – Vignesh and Suresh – were detained during a vehicle check, and ganja and liquor bottles were seized from the auto-rickshaw the duo was travelling in. They were taken to the Secretariat Colony police station and the following day Vignesh developed seizures after breakfast and the doctors declared him as “brought dead”.
A police sub-inspector, a constable and a member of the Home Guards were suspended and probe was initially into suspicious death of the suspect. The case was handed over to the CB-CID following an outcry by the horseman’s family who demanded action against police officers for brutally beating him up. The family also alleged that they were offered money for their silence.
(With PTI inputs)
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