TIRUNELVELI: As more skeletons are tumbling out of the alleged custodial torture closet in Ambasamudram each passing day, Additional Chief Secretary K Phanindra Reddy on Monday placed Tirunelveli SP P Saravanan under compulsory wait at the Director General of Police office.
The case pertains to allegations that ASP Balveer Singh removed the teeth of more than 10 persons and crushed the testicles of two of them.
In a note, Phanindra Reddy said Thoothukudi SP Dr L Balaji Saravanan will hold full additional charge as Tirunelveli SP until further orders. The move follows DGP C Sylendra Babu shifting Balveer Singh to Vacant Reserve on March 27, and Chief Minister MK Stalin suspending Singh two days later.
Meanwhile, K Rajeshwari, mother of K Arunkumar (23), said on Monday that her son too was a victim of Singh’s torture. The family belongs to the SC community.
Addressing media in Vikramasingapuram, she said the ASP removed her son’s two teeth and partially broke another. “I forcibly sent my son back to Bengaluru, where he is employed, on Friday as some policemen were putting tremendous pressure on him to give a statement to Sub Divisional Magistrate MD Shabbir Alam in favour of the ASP. The personnel kept coming to our quarters till today (Monday). They threatened us not to reveal the torture. Even now, some policemen are following my husband,” she said.
Rajeswari also shared photos of her son’s injured mouth and broken tooth with the media. When asked about a video that went viral three days ago in which she said the policemen had actually rescued her son from some assailants, she said, “Two police personnel, including Special Branch constable Bogan, forced me to speak in support of police and videographed the same. They did not allow me to talk about my son’s torture. Deceitfully, they circulated that video without my knowledge.”
She further said that the teeth of Ganesan, who was taken along with her son to the Ambasamudram police station, were also removed by Balveer Singh. “My younger son Santhosh’s gums were damaged by the ASP using jelly stone,” she alleged, adding that Arunkumar would appear before Shabbir Alam by April 10. The victim’s father, a government staff who did not want to be named, demanded that all the police personnel involved in the alleged custodial torture of Arunkumar, be booked under the SC/ST (PoA) Act.
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Meanwhile, CPM functionaries led by the party’s district secretary K Sriram staged a protest in Cheranmahadevi demanding the registration of an FIR against Singh and his arrest. “Tirunelveli police have instructed all printing presses not to print notices pertaining to protests against the ASP. Cheranmahadevi police also denied us permission to stage a protest over this issue,” said Sriram, dubbing these acts of police as undemocratic.
Following concerns raised by journalists, the district police office has warned policemen against taking photos and videos of journalists covering the alleged custodial torture issue.
Meanwhile, in Ambasamudram, AIADMK MLA Esakki Subbiah claimed that Balveer Singh had done many good things for the people in the region. “I will urge the state to file an FIR against him,” he added.