THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There is no end in sight for the indefinite sit-in being staged by a youth in front of the secretariat for over two years seeking action against those responsible for his younger brother's death while in police custody.
The strike by Sreejith of Parassala crossed 750 days and he is determined not to end his stir till the policemen who caused the death of his brother Sreejeev are punished.
A police probe into the incident is learnt to have concluded that there was no evidence of custodial torture. The CBI probe announced by the state government has remained as a non-starter.
Sreejeev who was taken into custody by the Parassala police on May 19, 2014 on charges of mobile phone theft died at Medical College Hospital two days later on May 21. A preliminary probe by the State Police Complaints Authority had held the then Parassala circle inspector Gopakumar and additional sub-inspector Philipose guilty of misconduct involving brutal physical assault of Sreejeev while in custody.
"The police probe had gone through the forensic evidence and could not find any evidence of custodial torture. The marks on his body were the result of the suicide attempts after consuming poison. The allegation that Sreejeev was held at the behest of his neighbour Varghese as Sreejeev was in a relationship with Varghese's daughter was also baseless. Varghese hailed from a weak background and he has no connection with any police officials, though it was alleged that additional sub-inspector Phillipose was his relative," police sources said. A team led by DySP Prathapan Nair was probing into the matter.
The police probe is at a standstill as the government decided to go for a CBI probe considering the allegations. Though the CBI collected the details in this regard, it was yet to take a decision whether to take over the probe or not, sources said.
Apart from Sreejith, Sreejeev left behind his mother Remani and another brother Sreeju, who is suffering from physical difficulties caused by an accident. Subsequently, the authority had ordered a compensation of Rs. 10 lakh, which was paid to the family.
