The Tamil Nadu Police have arrested two cops in connection with one of the two back-to-back custodial deaths following heavy criticism from the general public.
The arrests were made late Friday night in connection with the death of Vignesh, a Dalit who was arrested on April 18 night in Chennai and killed the next morning.
Vignesh’s relatives claim he died as a result of police torture, and a post-mortem investigation identified 13 injuries on his body, including a broken tibial bone in his right leg.
On April 18, Vignesh and his companion Suresh, both frequent offenders, were arrested by Secretariat police in Chennai.
He had seizures the next morning, according to the police, and was transferred to the Kilpauak government hospital, where he died.
Vignesh’s family held demonstrations after his death, prompting the state police to suspend Secretariat colony police station Sub-Inspector Pugazham Perumal, Constable Ponraj, and Home Guard Deepak.
Ponraj and writer Manaf were arrested by the Tamil Nadu CB-CID late last night in connection with Vignesh’s death.
Perumal, sub-inspector Ganapathy, armed reserve police constable Karthik, Munaf, head constable Kumar, and constable Anandhi were among the nine officers questioned by the CB-CID.
In a separate incident, Tiruvannamalai police arrested a 43-year-old man named Thangamani on April 26 on suspicion of illegal liquor brewing.
He experienced convulsions the next day at the Sub Jail, where he was remanded and died.
Thangamani’s relatives said that the police tried to sway them by paying a bribe, but they refused and demanded an independent investigation into his death.
(with inputs from IANS)