The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed the petition filed by the mother of L. Manikandan, who died hours after being released from police custody, seeking a CBI probe into her son’s death. The family alleged custodial torture.
Justice G.R. Swaminathan observed that prima facie the prosecution was on the right lines. No case had been made out to suspect that the death was the result of custodial torture, the judge said.
The court said the family of the deceased could file a protest petition before the judicial magistrate concerned when the police file a final report. The magistrate could take a call, the judge said.
The petitioner, L. Ramalakshmi, said Manikandan and his friends had gone out to purchase manure for their agricultural field around 4 p.m. on December 4, 2021. Two policemen intercepted her son’s two-wheeler near Keelathooval Kali Temple, she said.
According to her, he was beaten up and dragged to the police station. Later, she was called to the police station and asked to take him home. She said her son was not in a stable condition and was murmuring that the police had beaten him up. He died around 1.30 a.m.
She sought a CBI probe into his death. The police submitted a report in the case. It was said that Manikandan was riding a stolen motorcycle and he did not stop the vehicle when the police asked him to stop during a vehicle check.
Earlier, the court ordered a re-post mortem on the body of the deceased. The doctors who conducted both the post mortems had recorded that there were no ante mortem injuries on the body. The police said Manikandan might have consumed poison, apprehending that it would be exposed that he had stolen the vehicle.
