TIRUNELVELI: Thirty months after the custodial violence in which former Ambasamudram ASP Balveer Singh and 13 other police personnel allegedly removed the teeth of suspects with pliers and crushed the testicles of two of them, and nearly two years after a magistrate court started hearing the matter, the four cases registered against the IPS officer and the others will enter trial on October 13.
On Monday, all 14 the suspects appeared before Judicial Magistrate No 1 K Sathya. Charges were framed and explained to them in Tamil. After Singh and his team members, Murugesh, Karthik Babu, Esakkiraja, Sadham Hussein, Manikandan, Rajakumari, B Rajakumari, Abraham Joseph, Ramalingam, Sudalai, Vignesh, Muthu Selvakumaran and Vivek Andrews, pleaded not guilty, the court ordered the prosecution to open its case and directed summons to be issued to all the witnesses.
The victims included a juvenile. The accused persons were booked by the CB-CID under various Sections of the IPC and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000.
Balveer Singh didn’t appear for 14 of 26 hearings
The first hearing was held on December 15, 2023, but the case was repeatedly delayed due to Singh’s absence. Of the 26 hearings held so far, Singh was absent for 14 of them.
In March 2023, around 10 victims came forward with allegations against Singh and his team. Some were seen with missing teeth and alleged that Singh had pulled them out with cutting pliers.
A few, including a juvenile, said the officer rubbed their teeth and gums with stones. Two persons including a newly-married victim claimed that Singh had crushed their testicles. The victims are suspects in street fight, family dispute, and drunken nuisance complaints.
TNIE first broke the story by meeting victims from different parts of the Ambasamudram police division. A few victims told TNIE that they were unwilling to depose before IAS officer and high-level inquiry officer P Amudha. The incident sent shockwaves across the country. Chief Minister M K Stalin assured strict action against Singh, who was suspended, but the suspension was later revoked.