CHENNAI: In a suspected case of custodial death, a 32-year-old theft accused, who was nabbed by a special team for inquiry, died in hospital where he was shifted from the Guduvanchery police station on Thursday night.
R Narayanan, a native of Jayankondam in Ariyalur, was nabbed by the police on GST Road in Guduvanchery on Thursday and was brought to the station for inquiry when the police claimed he suffered a heart attack.
Sources claimed that two other men - Durairaj, 35, and Muruganantham, 34, - were detained along with Narayanan when they got off an autorickshaw and were walking towards Adanur.
A senior police officer said Narayanan had murder and theft cases registered against him in Cuddalore and Ariyalur but no case had been registered against him at Guduvanchery.
A police source claimed that the team had gone patrolling when they spotted the trio.
“After he was brought to the station and when he was being interrogated, he fell unconscious around 8.30 pm and the police rushed him to the private hospital where the doctors said he was fine.
“He was brought back to the police station for interrogation and again he fell unconscious at 11.30 pm. Narayanan was taken to the Chengalpattu government hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead,” said a police officer.
The police have registered a case (under legal provisions regarding inquiry by Magistrate into cause of death under section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.)