MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday transferred the investigation into the alleged custodial death of R Akash Deison (26), a history-sheeter from Manamadurai who died on March 8, to the CB-CID. In a communication, Director General of Police (HoPF) in-charge G Venkatraman said the case registered by the Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital police has been transferred to the CB-CID considering the seriousness and sensitivity of the case.
The ADGP CB-CID has been requested to appoint an investigating officer and direct the officer to take over the case diary and related records.
Meanwhile, the state government told the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that Aakash did not die due to custodial torture and claimed that he was never taken to the police station.
Additional Advocate General M Ajmal Khan, appearing for the state, told Justice R Vijayakumar that Aakash suffered a fracture in his right leg after jumping from a railway bridge while attempting to evade arrest in an assault case.
“From there, he was directly taken to Manamadurai primary health centre, then to the Sivaganga GH and later to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, where he experienced breathing difficulties and died,” the AAG said.
The AAG made the statement when Justice Vijayakumar was hearing a petition filed by Aakash’s father A Rajesh Kannan seeking a series of directions including CB-CID probe, Rs 50 lakh compensation, preservation of CCTV footage recorded in the police station, postmortem examination as per guidelines and a court-monitored investigation.
Hearing the AAG’s submissions, the judge wondered how a 26-year-old could die due to a fracture in his leg. He opined that this needs to be investigated. The judge also asked the state’s response to the petitioner’s requests to preserve CCTV footage and to conduct a proper autopsy adhering to guidelines prescribed by the court in a similar matter in 2020.
The AAG said a case has already been registered under Section 196 (Inquiry by magistrate into cause of death) of BNSS and it was transferred to the CB-CID.
He added the state does not have any objections to the interim application seeking preservation of CCTV footage. “We do not have any skeletons to hide. We are even ready to transfer the case to the CBI,” he added.
However, he sought the petitioner’s cooperation to the postmortem, pointing out that several people are staging a road roko on the national highway near Manamadurai, causing severe hardship to the public. The judge orally observed that fractures during police custody have become common and in this case, there is a death. That is why the people are agitating.
He recorded the submissions of the petitioner’s counsel, Henri Tiphagne, that he will ask the family members to request the protesters to disperse. He also directed GRH dean to make sure the autopsy is completed on Monday in the presence of the judicial magistrate concerned.
Tiphagne argued that the FIR should be registered under Section 196 (2) BNSS, which specifically deals with custodial death. The case was adjourned to Wednesday.
(With inputs from V Vignesh @ Madurai)