The State government has transferred the case relating to the ‘suicide’ of R. Vishnupriya, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Tiruchengode in Namakkal district to the Crime Branch–CID (CB-CID) on Saturday, amidst political parties demanding that the case be handed over to the CBI .
The DSP was found hanging dead at her residence on Friday evening.
The officer’s father, M. Ravi, initially refused to accept the body. He alleged that his daughter was mentally tortured and harassed by her superiors, and demanded a CBI probe. He also wanted autopsy done by private doctors and videographing of the same.
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Meanwhile, a statement to the media by her friend and batchmate K. Maheswari, a serving DSP from Keezhakkarai in Ramanathapuram district, alleging torture and harassment by higher officials triggered controversy. She said she would like to speak out even at the cost of her job.
Vishnupriya’s body was handed over to her relatives at 3.50 p.m. Senior police officials, including DIG, Salem Range, Vidya Jayant Kulkarni and Salem Superintendent of Police G. Subbulakshmi, paid their last respects. ‘Veera vanakkam’ slogans were raised by members of Dalit outfits.
Earlier in the day, her father refused to sign the documents for autopsy claiming that she ended her life due to mental torture by the Namakkal SP and also because of threats from Yuvaraj, president of Dheeran Chinnamalai Peravai, and the main accused in the case relating to the murder of V. Gokulraj, which Ms. Vishnupriya was investigating. When City Police Commissioner A. Amalraj informed the family members that the post-mortem would be carried out only under the existing hospital rules, they permitted the autopsy.
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Missing pages Family members told The Hindu that many pages in the suicide note were missing and they demanded that her mobile phone and laptop be handed over. “Since senior officials are involved, only a CBI inquiry would bring out the truth,” they added.
Rasipuram DSP V. Raju has been appointed as the Investigating Officer. Based on a complaint from the vehicle driver P. Krishnamoorthy, the Tiruchengode Town police registered a case under Section 174 (Death under unnatural circumstances) of CrPC.