Tension prevailed in Sempatti near Dindigul on Thursday following the death of a youth in police custody.
Relatives of the youth staged a road roko in front of the Vedasandur Government Hospital for over three hours, refusing to receive the body, and demanded a murder case against the police personnel concerned.
According to sources, Raja (27) of Chellayipuram, a textile mill worker was picked up by a special police team constituted to investigate a daylight robbery that happened a fortnight ago at the spot on the Kalikkampatti Road on Wednesday night for interrogation.
Police said Raja was first taken to the Dindigul police station and then shifted to Vedasandur in a van. En-route, Raja, tried to escape, and fell off the moving van, police said.
After he was caught and taken in the van, he complained of uneasiness and was brought to a GH, where the doctors pronounced him dead.Rajesh Khanna, the Special Branch Inspector, filed a complaint with the Vedasandur police after the incident and a case was filed based on the complaint.
A postmortem was conducted at the GH in the presence of Vedachandur JM Arunachalam.
Meanwhile, as news about the custodial death spread, Raja’s relatives gathered in front of the Sempatti Police Station.
Later, the staged a road roko in front of the Vedachandur GH, where the postmortem was done.
Raja’s pregnant wife Maheswari submitted a petition to the JM, demanding a murder case against the police officials concerned.
Traffic in the area came to a standstill as a result of the road roko.
Dindigul Superintendent of Police T Jayachandran and Revenue Divisional Officers Velusamy (Palani) and Perumal (Dindigul) pacified the protestors.
The road roko was withdrawn after officials assured them that appropriate action would be taken.