Police inspector suspended over ‘custodial death’
CHENNAI: An inspector attached to the Nazarathpet Police Station has been placed under suspension in connection with an alleged custodial death case at Sevvapet. According to sources, a 35-year-old man who was taken into police custody on Saturday collapsed and died while being taken to court for judicial remand.
The man identified as Santhakumar, along with his gang, was arrested by the Sevvapet police for allegedly plotting an attack. The gang was nabbed from a wedding hall in Sevvapet on Saturday morning and was taken to the Sevvapet Police Station for inquiry.
After the inquiry, en route to the court for remand, he collapsed and became unconscious, said police. Though he was rushed to the Thiruvallur GH, he was declared dead. “Based on the initial check-up, it was found that he collapsed due to cardiac arrest. We have sent the body for postmortem,” said a police official.
However, Santhakumar’s family allege that he died after the police thrashed him. Speaking to reporters, his wife said, “He came out on bail only a week ago. On Saturday, they again took him to the police station and beat him to death.”
Sources said that Santhakumar was nabbed by the Sevvapet police but Gunasekaran of Nazarathpet took charge of the case as the gang had a previous murder case at Nazarathpet and the Sevvapet inspector was unavailable at the time. After an inquiry, Gunasekaran was placed under suspension on Sunday.
In 2023, Santhakumar and nine others were arrested for the murder of PPG Shankar, who was the BJP State Treasurer of the SC/ST Wing.