MADURAI
The father of a 22-year-old man, who had sustained injuries in the custody of Avaniapuram police that led to his death, informed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday that he was convinced that his son’s death was not a case of custodial death.
The court was hearing the suo motu proceedings initiated on the alleged custodial death of M. Balamurugan, who sustained injuries in police custody and subsequently died at Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) here in October last year.
Balamurugan and his associates were arrested by the police for allegedly kidnapping a youth and demanding money from his parents. Later, the parents of Balamurugan were informed that their son was admitted to the GRH.
P. Muthukaruppan, the father of Balamurugan, who had earlier sought a CBI probe into the death of his son, chose to withdraw his petition. However, advocate Henri Tiphagne, who had earlier represented Mr. Muthukaruppan pro bono, urged that the petition be heard suo motu .
When the case was taken up for hearing, Mr. Muthukaruppan, through his counsel A. Kannan, informed a Division Bench of Justices M. Duraiswamy and T. Ravindran that he was convinced that his son’s death was not a case of custodial death.
However, advocate Henri Tiphagne argued that Mr. Muthukaruppan withdrew the petition due to threat from the police and he was being coerced not to depose against those involved in the case. He also argued that certain transactions had taken place in this regard.
Denying the charges, Additional Advocate General K. Chellapandian said that the allegations were false and the State was already conducting an inquiry into the incident and against those involved. He also submitted a counter affidavit in this regard.
Taking cognisance of the submissions, the court directed Mr. Muthukaruppan to file an affidavit and adjourned the hearing till February 26.
