Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 25: In a rare judgment, a special court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram today awarded death penalty to two policemen in connection with the custodial death of a youth in 2005.
The court had on Tuesday (July 24) found the two personnel – K Jithakumar and S V Sreekumar, both civil police officers at the time of the incident and first and second accused in the case – guilty of custodial torture that led to the death of Udayakumar (27) at the Fort Police Station in Thiruvananthapuram. They were also directed to pay a penalty of Rs 2 lakh each.
CBI special judge J Nasser awarded three-year jail terms each to three other officers - T K Haridas (then assistant commissioner), E K Sabu (then circle inspector) and Ajith Kumar (then sub-inspector) - found guilty of fudging documents and destroying evidence in a cover-up attempt. K V Soman, then additional SI and third accused in the case, died during the trial.
A police team took into custody Udayakumar and his friend Suresh Kumar from the Sreekanteswaram Park in Thiruvananthapuram on September 27, 2005, for suspected theft. After ascertaining that Udayakumar was in possession of Rs 4,020, the policemen subjected him to third-degree treatment at the station to extract a confession, including the use of an iron pipe on his body, inflicting severe injuries that led to his death. The officers charged with conspiracy had registered a false case against Udayakumar after his death.
Suresh was among the witnesses who turned hostile after the trial in the case commenced.
J Prabhavathi, Udayakumar’s aged mother who fought the 13-year-long legal battle, called it a landmark judgement and said it was a verdict she was expecting. “No son should have to suffer like my son did,” she told reporters.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
Wow!!!
Took too long, yet justice prevailed. We also need such brave judge in DK too.
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