THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/ KOCHI : Prabhavati Amma was crestfallen on Wednesday.
She could not believe the police officers convicted for the brutal custodial torture and murder of her son Udayakumar 20 years ago would walk free.
“I feel no one has a heart anymore. Even the (Kerala) High Court has no heart. If it did, it would not have spoken these words and let them walk free,” the 74-year-old, emotional and livid, told the media hours after the HC acquitted former civil police officers K Jithakumar and S V Sreekumar and set aside their death sentence in the murder of Udayakumar in police custody at Fort police station in Thiruvananthapuram in 2005. Sreekumar passed away during the pendency of the case.
The court, which also set aside the conviction and three-year imprisonment awarded to three other cops — T K Haridas, T Ajith Kumar and E K Sabu — said “a flawed and tainted investigation” by the CBI eventually led to the “failure of the prosecution case.”
A scrap shop worker, Udayakumar, then 28, and his friend Sureshkumar were picked up by Jithakumar and Sreekumar from Sreekandeswaram park in the capital on September 27, 2005.
They were taken to Fort police station, and later to a CI’s office. As per the CBI, Udyakumar was subjected to third degree torture on the allegation that the Rs 4,000 found in his possession was stolen.
Accused must be punished, says mother
That night, Udayakumar lost consciousness. He was declared dead at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital around 11.40pm. The autopsy found serious injuries on his body, including those inflicted through “uruttal” (rolling iron rod over the body) and assault.
Prabhavati, who lives in Nedungad, Karamana, said, “There were 22 wounds on his thigh and the court saw it with their own eyes. Now the court says they are not guilty,” she said. Alleging foul play, she said her only demand is that the accused be punished and those released now must be sent back to prison.
The case, initially probed by the crime branch-CID was taken over by the CBI. The CBI court in 2018, sentenced the accused cops. The HC said the evidence showed the approvers had said they acted under fear of being arraigned by CBI.
It said the high-handed and wholly illegal procedure of converting an eyewitness who had no real connection with the incident into an approver, of indiscriminately arraying all witnesses and coercing them at gunpoint into becoming approvers, among others, led to the failure of the prosecution case.
“The evidence adduced before the court...is not sufficient to hold the accused guilty,” it said. Adv P K Raju, the deputy mayor, said the HC verdict will be challenged in the Supreme Court.