KALLAKURICHI: P Sakthivel (28), one of the three Kuravar men remanded on Wednesday, suffered severe chest pain at the Ulundurpet sub-jail on Thursday evening, and was admitted to the Ulundurpet Government Hospital (GH).
A sub-jail official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told TNIE Sakthivel was gasping for breath when other inmates alerted the officials. Based on the opinion of doctors at the Ulundurpet GH, he will be shifted to the Kallakurichi GH for further treatment.
However, officials from the office of the superintendent of police said he was stable and doing well. Meanwhile, Sakthivel’s family alleged he had to be hospitalised due to brutal custodial torture by the police. His wife, Kasturi (27), who is due for delivery in a week, told TNIE, “My husband is a young, well-built man. How could he possibly suffer chest pain if the police didn’t brutally attack him? The police are discriminating against us, and the government has left us to die helplessly. I want my husband to survive for our child and for my family.”
Five from the Kuravar tribe were arrested on November 14 and 16, and were allegedly tortured at the police station and forced to admit to unsolved theft crimes. Two of them were released around midnight on Tuesday, and three others were remanded on Wednesday.