Two Kerala policemen get death for custodial death, three get rigorous imprisonment
Thiruvananthapuram, July 25 : A CBI Special Court here on Wednesday sentenced to death two policemen and three others to rigorous imprisonment for three years in a case of custodial torture and death 13 years ago.
Those handed out capital punishment include Constables K. Jithukumar and S.V. Sreekumar, who had detained Udayakumar who later died in custody.
Those found guilty of conspiracy and destroying evidence are then Sub-Inspector Ajith Kumar, Circle Inspector E.K. Sabu and then Assistant Commissioner of Police K. Haridas.
The court on Tuesday had convicted these five for the custodial death of the 26-year-old man at the Fort police station in September 2005.
Police had detained two friends, Udayakumar and Suresh Kumar, on the charge of theft. When Udayakumar was let off later, policemen were irked when he asked for Rs 4,000 taken from his pocket by the police while he was in custody. He was brutally tortured with an iron rod, following which he died.
Udayakumar's mother Prabhavathi Amma had approached the Kerala High Court for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. "This is the best news I am hearing," she told the media as she broke down.
"Justice has been finally delivered to my son and me. It should serve as a lesson to all policemen never to use force against people. Such fate (her son's) should never befall anyone again," she added.
"It was just before the Onam festival that my son was brutally killed by these policemen. And see, Onam is now round the corner... just as my son could not eat his Onam meal then, these policemen will not be able to eat theirs this time," the aged woman said.
The convicts' counsel said that they will appeal against the verdict.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
