Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Pick-pocketing: police to probe suspect's charges

Thiruvananthapuram: Inspector-General of Police A. Hemachandran has ordered a departmental inquiry into the allegation that the Thampanoor police arrested a 58-year-old chronic heart patient on trumped-up charges of pick-pocketing and brutalised him in custody.

The alleged incident occurred on April 5. The complainant is D. Stephen, a government contractor. Stephen had boarded a bus from Chenkalchoola to Thampanoor. He occupied a seat along with K. Sivankutty, canteen manager of Homoeopathy College, Vellayani.

Stephen said during the course of the journey, he felt someone drop something into his pocket.

He said Sivankutty, accompanied by two policemen, approached him while he was waiting at the Central bus station to catch a bus to his home town, Neyyattinkara. The policemen took him to the Thampanoor station house for questioning. The local Circle Inspector questioned Stephen first. Stephen protested his innocence. At the officer's instance, Stephen called a senior engineer in the Public Works Department. The engineer sent a peon who identified Stephen. The engineer told the police that Stephen was not a criminal. Stephen also showed the police a Rs.7-lakh cheque issued to him by the government for completing a contract work.

‘Manhandled'

The allegation, raised chiefly by Stephen's relatives, is that the police asked Stephen to remove his shirt and manhandled him inside the station's lock-up room. They said the police ignored his plea that he had undergone a coronary bypass surgery.

Stephen was produced in court on the charge of theft under Section 379 of the Indian Penal Code and remanded in judicial custody. He was released on bail on Saturday and is under treatment at a hospital in Neyyattinkara.

The police said that Sivankutty was returning to Vellayani after collecting his monthly salary (Rs.3,500) from the college owner's house near Statue.

He kept the money in the front pocket of his shirt, along with a postcard and a piece of paper with Vaikom boat service timings scribbled on it. Sivankutty discovered that his pocket had been picked when he disembarked at Thampanoor. He approached the police aid post there and sought assistance. The police said Sivankutty pointed out the suspect, Stephen, to the aid post officials.

‘Money recovered'

The police said they recovered the money and other documents reported missing by Sivankutty from Stephen's secret pocket stitched onto the inside portion of his shirt. They claimed the recovery was made in the presence of the complainant and other independent witnesses.

The police were verifying whether Sivankutty or any of his acquaintances had any cause for personal enmity against Stephen or vice versa. Investigators said they were suspicious about Stephen's statement that he felt “somebody drop something into his pocket” during the journey.

Mr. Hemachandran said the police would look into all angles of the case. He said the allegations raised by Stephen were “extremely serious and required careful looking into.” The police would also investigate whether Stephen was brutalised inside the station house.

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