A 45-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison while in custody at the Karamana police station here on Sunday.
The police identified the victim as Chaluku Chandran alias S. Santosh Kumar Nair, 45, of Nedungadu. The police took Santosh into custody late on Saturday after his wife Kushala called the police station and complained that Santosh, who was in a drunken state, was threatening to kill her.
According to police, Santosh consumed a lethal insecticide inside the police station toilet early on Sunday. He was rushed to the Medical College Hospital after he told a woman working as a part time cleaner at the police station that he had consumed poison. Santosh died later at the hospital.
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The police said Santosh was accused in 14 theft cases in the city. He had served seven months in prison in 2008 after a court found him guilty of a house break (Fort police station crime: 158/2004) reported in 2004 near Ambalathara.
The police have ordered an internal enquiry into the incident. They have registered a case of unnatural death. Investigators were asking how Santosh managed to conceal a small bottle of pesticide on his person and why he was not properly frisked before being detained inside the lock up. The police would conduct its preliminary inquest in the presence of the Revenue Divisional Officer on Monday. The postmortem procedures would be video graphed for future reference.