VILLUPURAM: A week after a 44-year-old man died after allegedly suffering brutal attack at the hands of police personnel at the Villupuram taluk police station in a case of illegal sale of Tasmac liquor, the family members have filed a petition with the Villupuram district court demanding exhumation of the buried body and investigation into the alleged custodial torture. As per a death report issued by the Villupuram GH under 174 CrPC, the death has been categorized as ‘unnatural death’.
According to family members, K Raja, a dalit resident of GRP Street in Villupurm town, went missing on April 9 night and was found to be in police custody on April 10 morning. “After we came to know that he is in police custody, my son and I went to see my husband but the police personnel did not allow us to meet him. They threatened us saying that if we created trouble, we’d be arrested too and they would drop my husband at our home in some time,” Raja’s wife Anju (42) said.
“My husband finally came home around 11.30 am. As soon as he entered the house, he started crying about how brutally he was thrashed by the police. He was gasping for breath and wanted some water. Soon after taking a sip of water, he collapsed on the floor,” Anju said.
“We rushed him to the nearby Villupuram government hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Within a few minutes, police officers arrived at the spot and took my husband’s body to Mundiyambakkam GH for postmortem which barely lasted for 10 minutes,” she said. Raja’s elder son Kuberan said, “In just a few minutes they wrapped up my father’s autopsy, made us sign some papers, and gave us the body. The cops kept nagging us to cremate the body but since we had doubts about the reason for my father’s death, we buried him on April 11.”
“With the help of human rights activists, we gave a complaint to the Villupuram district superintendent of police seeking justice for the death of my husband due to custodial torture on April 13. But citing election duty, police officers have not investigated it yet,” Anju said.
Human rights activist P V Ramesh, who is helping the family in the case, told TNIE, “We have filed a petition at the Villupuram district court seeking orders for exhumation of the body and investigation into the police atrocity. We have also sent petitions to the CM’s cell seeking justice.”
According to sources, Raja had recently joined work as a cook in a hotel adjacent to a Tasmac outlet at Tirupuchavadi Medu, about seven km from Villupuram town. According to police, Raja was arrested for selling liquor in black market after stipulated hours near the Tasmac outlet. Though no FIR was registered for the crime, he was taken into custody by Villupuram taluk station police on April 10, Raja’s friends said.
A senior police official told TNIE that the complaint has been received and a probe will begin after the elections are over.