Malappuram: Eight police officers, including a sub-inspector, were suspended on Wednesday in connection with the death of a youth while in custody at Tanur police station.
Tanur Police Sub-Inspector Krishnalal, K Manoj, Jinesh Abhimanyu, Sreekumar, Albin Augustine, Dinesh, Vipin and one person on security duty at the station are the suspended officials.
The Thrissur DIG has suspended them as part of investigating their involvement in the custodial death.
Meanwhile, people in the area are planning to form an action committee to demand a fair inquiry into the case.
They have raised concerns over police passing wrong information to the relatives and the lapse in informing them of the arrest.
“Police have erred in informing the arrest of Thamir and four others to their relatives, causing suspicion. We demand a fair inquiry," said K Liyakathali, panchayat president of A R Nagar, where Thamir’s house is situated.
The officers landed in trouble after Tirurangadi native Thamir Jifri's postmortem report raised suspicion regarding custodial beating. There were 13 bruises on his body, which may have resulted from the beating, the report stated.
According to the postmortem report, bruises were seen on the bottom end of his spine, thighs and under the legs.
Jifri and four others were taken into custody from a car parked near the Devedar Over Bridge at Tanur along with the narcotic drug MDMA on Monday evening. Though police arrested the accused at around 3.30 pm on Monday, they were produced at the station only at 1.45 am on Tuesday.
The allegation is, the police beat the persons in custody at the police quarters in the intervening time between taking the accused into custody and producing them at the Tanur police station.
Two plastic packets with some sort of crystal material were found in Jifri's intestine, the report revealed.
Jifri was brought dead to a private hospital at Tanur on Tuesday at 4.30 am. A police vehicle ferried him to the hospital; the other persons in custody were informed that Jifri had collapsed at the station.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the custodial death was shifted to a team under the state crime branch deputy superintendent Reji M Kunnipparamban. Kozhikode crime branch SP Kunjimoitheenkutty will oversee the probe. Earlier, the investigation was handed over to the Malappuram district crime branch.
