MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday refused to order a CBI probe into a case registered over the death of a 20-year-old youth L Manikandan of Ramanathapuram last month.
Dismissing a petition filed by Manikandan’s mother Ramalakshmi, Justice GR Swaminathan said he believes the investigation is on the right track.
Though Ramalakshmi alleged that her son died due to the custodial torture inflicted on him by Keelathooval police a day before his death, the judge noted from the postmortem reports that no major external injuries were found on Manikandan’s body. The reports also indicate that the youth died due to poisoning, he added.
According to the police, Manikandan was questioned for riding a stolen vehicle and the police had asked him to bring the original documents of the vehicle, the judge further noted. He said the police suspect that Manikandan might have consumed poison owing to fear of getting exposed.
“To support this hypothesis, the police also submitted that Manikandan’s brother had contacted Hariharan of Chennai, who had a two-wheeler similar to the one Manikandan was riding, and had requested him to give the original documents of his vehicle,” the judge added.
After cross-checking the above information with Hariharan through a video call, the judge said he is prima facie (on the first impression) satisfied that the investigation is proceeding on the right lines. No case has been made out to doubt that the deceased died due to custodial torture, the judge observed and dismissed the petition. He, however, clarified that the order is passed based on tentative findings and only with regard to the relief presently sought by Ramalakshmi.