MADURAI: The mother of a history sheeter who allegedly died in a road accident on July 6, moved the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday alleging that her son died due to custodial torture by Melur police during interrogation in connection with several thefts that took place in the area.
In her petition, M Kavitha of Sivaganga sought a series of directions including video graphing of the postmortem, preservation of CCTV footage of the police station among others.
According to Kavitha, on the night of July 4, a few personnel from Melur police station came to her house inquiring about the whereabouts of her son Seemairaja (20), saying he had committed thefts in Melur and escaped with his friend Surya. Two days later, police called her over phone and informed that Seemairaja had died in a road accident.
When she went to receive the body, she did not see any external injuries that would indicate a road accident, Kavitha alleged. Suspecting that her son might have died due to custodial torture, she sought directions from the court to conduct the postmortem through an independent medical board consisting at least three senior forensic medicine experts.
When the case was heard by Justice L Victoria Gowri, additional advocate general B Saravanan denied the allegations and said the police have CCTV footage to prove Seemairaja indeed died in a road accident. He added that the government did not have any objections to the relief sought by the petitioner.
The judge permitted the petitioner and her counsel to meet the injured pillion rider Surya to clarify their doubts about the circumstances leading to her son’s death, including whether they were being chased, and posted the case for Thursday.