The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Coimbatore, S. Nagarajan, has appointed eighth judicial magistrate M. Ramadhas to examine the body of T. Palanisamy, Santiago Martin’s accountant, who was found dead in a pond near Karamadai under mysterious circumstances on May 3, under Section 176 of Criminal Code of Procedure.
An order issued by the CJM on Monday on the appointment of Mr. Ramadhas said that the magistrate should conduct the inquiry adhering to all instructions of the Madras High Court and submit a report in a sealed cover at the earliest. The report would be forwarded to the investigating officer.
Post inquiry, the magistrate will decide whether a re-postmortem as sought by the son of the deceased is required.
It said that the magistrate should inform the relatives a factum on the inquiry to their known address by notice. The order directed the Karamadai police to furnish a copy of the history of the case to Mr. Ramadhas for the inquiry.
In the event of the magistrate submitting a report to the CJM recommending for a re-postmortem, he should also form a team of doctors to conduct the procedure as laid down by various decisions of the High Court and the Supreme Court of India. The team of doctors should include a government doctor to be nominated by the complainant, the son of Palanisamy.
The family members of Palanisamy had alleged that his body had several marks suspected to be due to physical assault. They had also alleged that he was subjected to third degree torture by men who introduced themselves as sleuths from the Income Tax Department.
