The Tamil Nadu government has accorded formal sanction to prosecute Balveer Singh, a 2020-batch officer of the Indian Police Service (since suspended), who was alleged to have subjected accused persons to custodial torture in the Ambasamudram sub-division where he served as Assistant Superintendent of Police.
According to police sources, the Crime Branch-CID of the Tamil Nadu police had completed the investigation into all four cases in which the IPS officer was accused of forcibly pulling out the teeth of 15 suspects who were taken to three police stations on various charges.
The investigating agency will now go ahead with the filing of a chargesheet against Mr. Singh and other police personnel who allegedly tortured suspects in Kallidakurichi, Vikramasingapuram and Ambasamudram police stations in 2022-23. An allegation under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was not made out, and hence, the charge was dropped, the sources said.
Scientific evidence
Besides examining dozens of witnesses, including police personnel, the CB-CID relied on the report of a team of doctors, forensic evidence and CCTV footage while investigating the four cases. Since many of the victims whose teeth were allegedly pulled out by Mr. Singh did not go to hospital to get treatment, the investigators had sought the opinion of a team of doctors attached to the Tirunelveli Medical College and Hospital.
“As there was no record of their having undergone treatment in government or private hospitals, we had to get the opinion of a team of doctors to ascertain whether the teeth (of the complainants) were pulled out forcibly. A report has also been obtained from the Forensic Science Laboratory to match the blood stains found in the police stations with the blood of the victims,” a senior police officer told The Hindu on Friday.
Parrying questions as to whether the reports had confirmed custodial torture, the officer said the chargesheet would have details of all aspects of the investigation with evidence gathered from different sources. “I can only say that the medical and scientific reports strengthen the allegations,” the officer said.
CB-CID inquiries had revealed that Mr. Singh was inspired by one of his close relatives, who had served as a police officer in a north Indian State. He had resorted to the practice of forcibly pulling out the teeth of accused persons using pliers to send out a warning to other rowdy elements in the area, the sources added.
Soon after the allegations of custodial torture surfaced in March, the State government transferred Mr. Singh without a posting. However, amid mounting pressure from various political parties for stringent action against Mr. Singh, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced that he had ordered the suspension of the accused officer, pending an inquiry.
