KOCHI: While the postmortem report of Sreejith who died of alleged police brutality at Varapuzha, points to torture, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case will soon constitute a medical board to initiate a further inquiry.
According to the police, the SIT will submit a request to the Directorate of Medical Education in this regard. The post-mortem report suggested the youth was subjected to brutal torture, probably with a weapon such as a heavy wooden log or iron rod.
The police surgeon who performed the autopsy has identified 18 antemortem injuries, including contusions at the root of the nose, on both arms and on the left side of the lower abdomen. It also found the small intestine of the youth had broken, again pointing to continuous assault in the lock-up.
"All soft tissues of the body showed serosal inflammation with oedema. Scrotal sac and testis were dissected in layers and testicular parenchyma showed scattered blood infiltration at places," said the postmortem report.
Meanwhile, the SIT is also looking at options to conduct narcoanalysis test on the police officers allegedly involved in the incident, besides examining details of their phone calls. The step is being initiated in the wake of the SIT failing to zero in on the officers who had assaulted the youth as both the Varapuzha police and the defunct Rural Tiger Force (RTF) are blaming each other. The four police officers in question are North Paravur CI Crispin Sam, Varapuzha SI G S Deepak, Grade ASI Sudheer and Senior CPO Santhosh Baby.
Putting the RTF in a fix, Viju a key witness in the case told reporters on Tuesday that Sreejith was beaten up before being brought to the Varapuzha police station. Though he kept complaining of unbearable pain in the abdomen due to police assault, the officers ignored it, Viju said.
While being produced in the court, the co-accused of Sreejith told reporters the suspended SI Deepak repeatedly kicked on Sreejith's abdomen in their presence.
Earlier, Sreejith's relatives demanded a CBI probe into the incident, citing laxity by the police in investigating a case against fellow officers.
Meanwhile, the accused who were arrested along with the deceased Sreejith, in connection with the suicide of 55-year-old C M Vasudevan, were sent to police custody on Tuesday for further interrogation.