THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sreejith, who has been on a strike in front of the Secretariat for the last 782 days, ended it on Wednesday with the CBI kicking off a probe into the custodial death of his brother S.R. Sreejeev in police custody at Parassala on May 21, 2014.
“I stopped the stir for the time being as the CBI officials promised a fair probe into my brother’s custodial death. I also need to restore my health to give detailed statements to the CBI team and as much evidence as I can,” Sreejith told DC.
Sreejith and his mother Ramani Prameela went to the CBI office on Wednesday morning after being summoned by the CBI. A team led by DySP T.P. Ananda Krishnan took a brief statement from them.
They also met CBI SP K.M. Varkey and urged them for a fair probe. The CBI officials said they would take a detailed statement later. They also asked Sreejith and his mother to produce any evidence helpful for the probe.
Sreejith was learnt to have told the CBI team that the suicide note produced by the police was not that of Sreejeev. The note was in fluent Malayalam, but Sreejeev was not that good in writing Malayalam.
Sreejeev was taken into custody by the Parassala police on May 19, 2014 in connection with a theft case and he died on May 21. His relatives alleged that Sreejeev was held owing to his relationship with a girl, the relative of a police man, and was severely tortured. The police claimed that Sreejeev was taken into custody on charges of the theft of mobile phones and that he consumed poison that was hidden in his undergarments.
The State Police Complaints Authority had found evidence of custodial torture and also ordered a compensation of '10 lakh to his family. But subsequent police investigation concluded that there was no evidence of custodial torture and hence Sreejith insisted on a CBI probe.
Sreejith has been staging a sit-in in front of the Secretariat demanding action against the guilty police officials for the last 782 days. His stir got massive public support when the news of it crossing 750 days went viral on the social media. Subsequently, the state government, MPs and BJP leadership pressed the centre for a CBI probe. The CBI formally took over the probe last week.
Sreejith was taken by his friends to a private hospital at Neyyatinkara for medical checkup.
