Kochi: Four police personnel, including the North Paravur circle inspector, were suspended on Thursday for the death of S.R. Sreejith, 26, of Varapuzha due to alleged custodial torture. CI Crispin Sam, Varapuzha SI G.S. Deepak, ASI Sudheer and civil police officer Santosh Baby were suspended by Ernakulam Range IG Vijay Sakre based on the preliminary inquiry report submitted by Special Investigation Team head IG S. Sreejith.
The department had earlier suspended three civil police officers — Jithin Raj, Santosh Kumar and Sumesh — attached to the armed reserve police camp, Kalamassery, for official misconduct. It was the trio who arrested Sreejith and his brother Sajith from their house on the night of Friday last. “A separate departmental inquiry is being conducted against the four officers by the Kochi Narcotic Cell assistant police commissioner. If found guilty, more stringent measures, including lodging of murder charges, will be taken against the personnel,” said a senior police officer.
The action, though, has been taken for the “failure” of the officials to report the serious condition of Sreejith while he was in custody. The report doesn’t cover whether the police personnel were responsible for the injury. “While Sreejith was in police custody for over 24 hours, the CI as the station house officer in charge failed to mention the injuries sustained by the youth while recording his arrest or preparing the remand report. The action against other three officers was also recommended on account of the lapses in reporting Sreejith’s worsening physical condition,” sources said.
Sreejith died in hospital on Monday evening due to the internal injuries in his small intestine. His relatives alleged that he sustained the wounds in police custody and that the cops initially didn’t bother to shift him to hospital. The scope of SIT’s investigation covers the gang attack on the house of Devaswompadam native C.M. Vasudevan and his subsequent suicide, alleged custodial torture of Sreejith and an assault case involving Divakaran, younger brother of the deceased Vasudevan. The investigation team has already submitted a report to this effect at a magistrate court in North Paravur.
