COIMBATORE: A 60-year-old man was found dead inside a sub-inspector's room at the Bazaar Police Station in Coimbatore on Wednesday. While the incident sparked allegations of custodial death, police claimed the man had barged into the police station on Tuesday midnight and ended his life after locking himself in the SI's room, without the knowledge of the policeman on duty.
City Police Commissioner A Saravana Sundar said departmental action will be initiated against the policemen for dereliction of duty. A team headed by an assistant commissioner of police will carry out the investigation.
The deceased was identified as A Rajan of Kamaraj Nagar at Ramachettipalayam near Perur in Coimbatore. Police claimed he was found dead in the SI's cabin on the first floor of the police station on Wednesday around 8 am.
Police sources said that Rajan was a bachelor working as a construction worker. He was living with his sister Veeramani and his mother.
On Tuesday, around 11.19 pm, the person approached Constable Senthil Kumar, the policeman on duty at the entrance. As Rajan seemed 'disoriented' and claimed a group was chasing him to kill him, the policeman asked him to leave and was attending a phone call.
The man left the station and then came back, sneaking to the first floor through the side staircase within a few minutes. Rajan locked himself in the sub-inspector's room, but Senthil did not notice him.
On Wednesday around 8 am, the policeman went to the first floor for official work and tried to open the room's door. But the door was locked from the inside. Suspecting this, he broke open the door and found the man's body. Later, the body was sent for post-mortem.
Commissioner Saravana Sundar said they came to know about the entire episode after analyzing CCTV cameras set up in and around the station. He further said steps will be taken to lock the entrances of adjacent entries of police stations during night hours.
"Senthil was not even sure whether the person was of unsound mind or not. There was no time to come to a conclusion that he was mentally unsound. After completing the phone call, the policeman checked the entrance of the station to see whether the man was there or not," said Saravana Sundar.
He said that while the police have the authority to send a person with a mental illness to a shelter home through a proper procedure, there was no time to handle this as he had already sneaked to the first floor.
Police released a slew of CCTV footage gathered from the locality showing the man's entry into the station on his own and how he was sent away by police. In another piece of footage, he was seen stepping down from a bus and walking on the roadside.
Following the incident, SI Nagaraj and Grade-II Constable Senthil Kumar were transferred to the armed force unit on Wednesday.(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)