MADURAI: Two months after the death of Scheduled Caste youth R Aakash (26), who allegedly succumbed to injuries he had sustained during alleged police custodial torture, the protest taken up by his family members in Manamadurai demanding the arrest of police personnel responsible for the incident entered its 61st day on Thursday.
The family members, unwavering in their demands, are yet to receive the body of the youth, even after two months since the incident occurred on March 8.
The body of Aakash, a resident of Krishnarajapuram Colony in Manamadurai in Sivaganga, is still being preserved at the mortuary of Government Rajaji Hospital. Sources said the youth died while receiving treatment for his right leg, allegedly broken by police personnel on March 6, during an investigation into the former’s involvement in a case.
After his death, Aakash’s father, Rajeshkannan, claimed that his son had told him about the alleged police brutality. The autopsy report of the youth mentioned 29 injuries, most of which were abrasions, except for the bone fracture.
M Lenin (46), an activist, accused the CB-CID of protecting the police personnel responsible for the incident, citing the delay in including their names as accused persons in the case. In the Ajithkumar custodial death case, everything proceeded expeditiously, but here the scene is different, he told TNIE.
Lenin said that besides murder charges, the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was also invoked, which requires the filing of chargesheet within 60 days of registering the FIR in the case, but the time limit ended on May 7. He added that the CB-CID, which is currently investigating the case, is yet to arrest any suspect and alleged collusion between the CB-CID and a politician for the “purposeful delay”.
However, CB-CID officials from Madurai refuted the accusations, saying they conducted investigations, but are yet to receive a report from the judicial magistrate, who had conducted an inquiry in the case, in order to take a final call.