COIMBATORE: The mother of a 22-year-old youth, who is a suspect in an attempt-to-murder case, on Monday accused police of torturing her son in illegal detention, and that he has suffered renal failure.
Coimbatore city police on September 20 arrested eight persons in an attempt-to-murder incident that took place in Ram Nagar on September 12. Police said the gang tried to kill two persons to avenge the murder of Gokul (24) who was hacked near the court complex in February.
On Monday, the mother of R Jayakumar (22), who is one of the suspects, alleged that police picked him up on September 16 and kept him in illegal detention till September 18. “After reporting about his disappearance with the police control room, we got information from Kovilpalayam police that my son was detained in the Kattoor police station. We went there and found him with injuries on his face and body. The next day he was not in the station, and police said he was shifted but did not say where he was taken to. We saw him only after he was remanded in custody on September 20,” Jayakumar’s mother R Dhanalakshmi said.
In her complaint submitted in the police commissioner’s office, Dhanalakshmi stated,” After my son refused to accept the charges, police took him to several places, gagged and beat him with a pipe on his stomach, hip and thigh. He suffered injuries to his kidneys and was not able to urinate. Also, he found blood in his urine. My son was admitted to Tiruppur GH and shifted to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on Saturday after his health worsened. Now he is under dialysis.”
“We came to know about his health condition only after he was lodged in Tiruppur prison on September 21. The very next day he was admitted to Tiruppur government hospital. The doctors said his kidneys are damaged,” Dhanalakshmi added. City police commissioner V Balakrishnan said an officer in the rank of Assistant Commissioner would probe into the allegations. Dean of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Dr A Nirmala told TNIE that one patient from the prisoners' ward was admitted for dialysis, but did not reveal the identity.