Kerala - Kollam   

Custodial death: policemen likely to be suspended

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM, APRIL 8. Policemen attached to the Crime Squad of Kollam East police station and an Additional Sub-Inspector who was in charge of the police station on Wednesday are likely to be suspended in connection with the custodial death of Rajendran at the station that day.

Police sources said that the higher authorities were waiting to receive the autopsy report formally and then effect the disciplinary action. The autopsy report has already been prepared at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital and is expected to reach the Revenue Divisional Officer in Kollam on Saturday.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Kollam East Police had taken Rajendran, 37, into custody on charges of theft from a private hospital here. After 6 p.m. while in the custody of the police, his health deteriorated and by 6.30 p.m. he was declared dead on arrival at the District Hospital here.

As per information available on the contents of the autopsy report, Rajendran had collapsed and died as a result serious internal injuries suffered on account of assault.

The police have registered a case under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code as death caused under suspicious circumstances.

While it is on record that Rajendran had been taken into custody, his statement had not been recorded. There is also nothing on record to hold the claim that he had either been assaulted before being taken into police custody or that his health condition was bad or critical.

As per the general diary entry at the police station, the Additional Sub-Inspector in charge of the station at that time had granted permission to two constables attached to the Crime Squad to take Rajendran outside the police station for "interrogation and investigation." The Sub-Inspector then left the station to attend to security in connection with the visit of the Assembly Speaker to the city.

The police station records show that Rajendran was moved from the station at 2.15 p.m. and brought back one-and-a-half hours later in a bad shape. Investigations conducted so far show that while Rajendran was in a healthy condition when brought to the police station on Wednesday afternoon, within a matter of hours, he had collapsed owing to internal bleeding and injuries, as a result of which he had to be rushed in a police jeep to the hospital where he was declared dead.

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