Kochi: A youth, who was taken into custody by Varappuzha police on Friday night in connection with the suicide of a man, died at a private hospital here on Monday evening due to internal injuries in his abdomen. B. Sreejith, 26, of Varappuzha, died a day after he underwent a major surgery at a private hospital in Cheranellore for the intestinal injuries he had suffered allegedly due to police torture. DGP Loknath Behra directed Ernakulam Ran-ge IG Vijay Sakre to probe into the allegations of custodial torture raised by the youth’s relatives and file a report immediately.
The cops in mufti had taken him into custody along with 10 others on Friday last after K.M. Vasudevan, 54, of Devaswompadam at Varappuza, committed suicide on Thursday night. A gang had entered his house and reportedly threatened and assaulted him over a scuffle with a neighbour. The police admitted Sreejith to the hospital on Sunday morning with complaints of abdominal pain and difficulty to pass urine. “The doctors performed a surgery immediately after detecting internal injury in his abdomen. Thereafter, he was in the emergency care unit. However, his condition worsened on Monday noon and he died at 6.45 pm,” hospital sources said.
The youth died shortly after the State Human Rights Commission chairperson P. Mohan Das visited him at the hospital following a complaint lodged by the victim’s wife about alleged custodial torture by the Varappuzha police. “The youth’s wife gave us a statement that she had witnessed the cops torturing her husband and that he was denied food and water and even treatment for two days. The commission found gross violation of basic human rights in Sreejith’s case,” it said in a statement.
The sub-inspector of Varappuzha police station was directed to appear in person in the next sitting of the commission to be held at the collectorate conference hall on April 23. It also directed the state police chief to depute an officer not below the rank of superintendent to probe into the matter and file a report, it said. The post-mortem of the body will be conducted at Kalamassery Government Medical College on Tuesday morning.
