Madurai: A cardamom lorry driver from Theni, who was brought to the Chekkanoorani police station in Madurai district for questioning in connection with a lorry fire case, died under mysterious circumstances. Relatives alleged that the police themselves beat him to death inside the police station. The case was transferred to the CB-CID, and three people, including a police inspector, were suspended from duty.
Balakrishnan (42), son of Rangappan, was from T. Alagarnayakkanpatti in Uthamapalayam taluk, Theni district. He worked as a lorry driver for a private company. On the morning of Nov. 3, he set off from Devaram to Madurai carrying parcels and sacks of cardamom.
Near Valanthur Kanmoi bank close to Usilampatti, the vehicle suddenly caught fire. The goods in the vehicle were burned and damaged. Based on the complaint filed by Balakrishnan, the Valanthur police station registered a case as an accidental fire.
In this situation, Inspector of Police (in-charge) Muthu brought Balakrishnan to the Seckanurani police station and questioned him the day before yesterday evening. Yesterday at around 6 a.m., Balakrishnan was found unconscious in a mysterious manner in the restroom near the inspector’s room.
However, the police said that he was in a fainted state when he tried to hang himself by tying his full-sleeved shirt to the window in an attempt to commit suicide. They also said that he was immediately taken to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, where the doctors who examined him said that he had already died on the way there.
In this situation, the police who took him in for questioning beat Balakrishnan to death, the complaint said, and his family members and relatives laid siege to the police station yesterday.
South Zone IG Vijayanthira Pithari and Madurai District Superintendent of Police Devanathan conducted an inquiry at the police station. Inspector Muthu, who was on duty at the time of the incident, and head constables Palanivelrajan and Kalaichelvi were immediately suspended from service. A judicial magistrate conducted an inquiry into the incident. Furthermore, the investigation in this case has been transferred to the CBCID. Balakrishnan's body has been kept at the Madurai Government Hospital for postmortem examination.
CB-CID police are investigating whether he died after being beaten by the police, or whether, as the police claim, he died by suicide out of fear of interrogation.
There is mystery surrounding the death: Balakrishnan’s wife, Sudha, told reporters, “On Nov. 12, the Chekkanoorani police took my husband and nine others for questioning. Later, after sending them away, they made my husband stay at the police station overnight alone.
Then, my husband, who spoke to me on the phone, said, ‘The police are planning to file the fire accident case against me. The police are pressuring me to confess. I will come home in the morning after the investigation is over,’ he said.
But yesterday (Nov. 14) morning, the police contacted me by phone and informed me that my husband had died by suicide. My husband was not a coward to the extent of taking his own life. His death is mysterious. Proper justice must be delivered,’ she said.
