CUDDALORE: An inspector was transferred and head constable suspended after a 24-year-old man, arrested on charges of ATM theft, died in police custody on Thursday morning. Police claimed he committed suicide by hanging himself from the window of the toilet using his own lungi.
According to police, Jagadeesh (66) had gone to an ATM to withdraw cash on Wednesday at Kattumannarkovil. As he was suffering from poor vision, Jagadeesh had requested Vinod (24), a resident of Oorithiraisolai standing nearby, to help him. Vinod had asked Jagadeesh for his ATM pin to withdraw cash and while returning the card, allegedly replaced it with a fake ATM card. Later in the day, Vinod withdrew `1,200 from the ATM, said police.
Jagadeesh, after getting to know that cash was withdrawn from his account, visited the bank only to find out that the card he was holding was not a valid card. Jagadeesh then lodged a complaint with Kattumannarkovil police. The police nabbed Vinod on Thursday and found that he had withdrawn `12,500 from several accounts thorough stolen ATM cards.
Sources said that Vinod was taken to the station at 9:45 am, and after a few minutes, told cops that he wanted to urinate. But in the bathroom, he allegedly hung himself from the window of the toilet using a lungi. He was rushed to the government Kattumannarkovil hospital, but despite treatment, was reported dead at 10:45 am. After receiving news of his death, the deceased’s family staged a protest outside the government hospital. As Deputy Inspector General Santhosh Kumar and senior police officials held talks with the protesters, they let the body to be taken to Government Cuddalore General Hospital for autopsy.
Meanwhile, official sources claimed the deceased has a case registered against him in 2017 at Karur Town police station for withdrawing `37,000 using stolen ATM cards. A top police official said action has been taken on two cops for “negligence”. “Kattumannarkovil Inspector Ravindra Raj has been transferred to Armed Reserve and Head Constable Pavadai Sami has been suspended until investigation for negligence during work.”