MADURAI: The Multi-Institutional Medical Board (MIMB), which was constituted by the Health Ministry to give an expert opinion with regard to the Sathankulam custodial death case, confirmed the findings of the doctors, who performed postmortem of victims P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks, said the CBI in the supplementary charge sheet filed by it in the I Additional District Court in Madurai on Friday. The agency has also added more witnesses to the case.
According to the MIMB report dated September 23, 2020, which is two days before the CBI filed its previous chargesheet, the father-son duo died due to "delayed complications of haemorrhage shock consequent to multiple blunt force injuries", which is in consonance with the postmortem findings. The final expert opinion of MIMB dated March 6, 2021, also stated that injuries suggestive of repetitive or systematic beating, possibly by long cylindrical objects like stick/baton/lathi, etc, were found on both victims.
However, the MIMB opined that the duo was in a suitable condition when they were remanded to judicial custody. While it is unlikely for a victim with such an extent of injuries to stand or walk normally, individual responses to trauma may differ from person to person as in this case, it added. The report also said that the deceased had been provided timely and adequate medical care at different points of custody or detention.
The biological examination and DNA profiling reports dated November 2020 and the reports of the Directorate of Forensic Science, Gandhinagar, which analysed the CCTV footage from the shops adjacent to the deceased's shop and from the Sathankulam government hospital, among others, have also been submitted to strengthen the prosecution's case. The accused policemen's claims that Jeyaraj was picked up only because he violated lockdown restrictions and created a ruckus in front of the shop, were disproved through the reports, the agency added.
Additional witnesses
The newly-added witnesses included S Raja Singh of Sathankulam, who was an inmate of Kovilpatti sub-jail, where Jeyaraj and Beniks were lodged prior to their death, and medical officer N Vinnila, who gave the fitness certificate for remanding the duo. Raja Singh claimed in his statement that when he spoke to the duo in the jail, they narrated the custodial torture they went through at the hands of the accused. Meanwhile, Vinnila stated that though she noticed the blood stains on the deceased's clothes and asked them how they sustained the injuries, they remained silent and did not complain about police torture.
The agency began to probe into the traders' death on July 7, 2020, and charge-sheeted nine policemen on September 25, 2020. The trial is underway and nearly 38 witnesses have been examined in the case so far. After conducting further investigation and obtaining scientific reports, the agency has filed the present supplementary charge sheet.
Already the expert opinion of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, has established that the DNA in the blood samples lifted from lathis and the walls in the Sathankulam police station matched the samples from the blood-stained clothes of the deceased.