With the Forensic Science Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram having completed the scientific examination of CCTV visuals and mobile camera footages related to the February 22 incident at Mukkali, near Attappady, in which mentally challenged tribal youth Madhu was beaten to death by the local people, decks have been cleared for filing the chargesheets against 16 accused in the case.
Police officers said on Tuesday that the Special Investigation Team would file the chargesheet within a fortnight in a special court at Mannarkkad, which deals with atrocities against the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The footages include visuals of a mob forcibly taking Madhu from a cave in the forest to Mukkali Junction. The footages have been collected from five mobile phones recovered from the accused. CCTV visuals from shops in Mukkali also form part of the visual documents. Besides, testimonies of 150 witnesses would be submitted in the court. Officials said all the 16 arrested have collective responsibility in the murder.
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Meanwhile, the officers said the investigation had revealed that no forest official had connived with the assailants.
According to sources in the team, K. Marakkar, one among the 16 local people arrested on the charge of murdering Madhu, had spotted the cave in which Madhu lived. Marakkar was employed in a teak plantation of the Forest Department near Kadukumanna, which was managed by a private contractor on lease. It was Marakkar who prompted others to trace Madhu and beat him up, claim the police. The mob entered the forest without permission and the whole act was illegal, the police say.
The police claimed that the report that Madhu was severely beaten up two days before his death was baseless. The autopsy was conducted only two days after his death. So some people wrongly reached the conclusion that he had been roughed up even two days before his death, the police said.
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