THRISSUR: The postmortem examination of the person, who died in the custody of Excise officials, has revealed that severe internal injuries in the neck and backbone, which were allegedly caused by custodial torture, could have led to the death, not an episode of fits as alleged by officers.
Ranjith Kumar, 40, a native of Tirur in Malappuram district, was taken into custody by Guruvayur special squad of Excise on Tuesday allegedly for smuggling 2kg of ganja. The same day, he was brought to San Jose Hospital at Pavaratty by Excise officials saying Ranjith showed symptoms of fits and became unconscious. The hospital authorities declared him brought dead, following which Pavaratty police registered a case of unnatural death.
Sources in the forensic department on Thursday said the postmortem examination had found 12 internal injuries in various parts of the body.
Two of them were severe which could have led to the death of the person who was in custody. Sources also revealed that the internal injuries seemed to have been caused by strong (12-to-six) elbow strikes. Besides the controversy surrounding the custodial death, discrepancies have emerged regarding the arrest too.
Police sources said though the arrest was recorded from Guruvayur, Ranjith was actually taken into custody from somewhere else and a probe is needed to verify it. Moreover, the accused was taken into custody around noon on Tuesday but he was brought to the hospital after 5pm.
Responding to these recent development, City Police Commissioner Yathish Chandra G H said necessary steps would be taken after receiving the report of the postmortem examination.