A 27-year-old gangster who is the prime suspect in two murder cases in the city mysteriously died in custody at the Kodungaiyur police station on Wednesday.
His family members claim he was beaten to death during police interrogation.
The deceased, Gopal Duraisamy, of Damotharan Nagar 1st West Street in Vysarpadi, was a member of the gang of late Ravi Kumar alias ‘Bokkai’ Ravi, who was murdered in the orthopaedic ward of Government Royapettah Hospital on June 30.
Starting as a load worker in Vysarpadi, Gopal soon shifted to a life of crime and was involved in the murders of alleged police informant Vijay Kumar in Vyasarpadi in mid-2013 and gangster ‘Pallu’ Suresh in Red Hills in 2012.
According to Gopal’s elder sister, Usha, her brother was last seen leaving their residence on Tuesday evening. “We had no clue of his whereabouts until Wednesday afternoon when news channels showed that police had shifted his body to Government Stanley Hospital,” she told mediapersons outside Gopal’s Vyasarpadi residence on Wednesday evening.
However, the city police have claimed that Gopal was picked up by the Kodungaiyur police early on Wednesday following his involvement in an attempt to murder his rival Parthiban at R.R. Nagar in Kodungaiyur, on Tuesday night.
“He was being interrogated by inspector L. Shankar of the Vyasarpadi police at the Kodugaiyur police station following specific inputs that he had planned to commit a murder in Vyasarpadi. He suddenly complained of giddiness and was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him ‘brought dead’,” said a senior officer.
The V Metropolitan Magistrate Uma Maheswari has begun an enquiry into the alleged custodial death and a post-mortem is likely to be conducted at Government Stanley Hospital on Thursday morning.