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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Bypoll: Wayanad witnesses brisk polling
Wayanad/Thrissur(Kerala) (PTI): During the first hour of voting, Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara assembly seats in Kerala witnessed a turnout of 6.96 and 7.2 per cent, respectively on Wednesday.
People started arriving early in the morning at the 1,354 polling booths in the hill constituency of Wayanad where there are over 14 lakh registered voters, according to the Election Commission figures.
Some arrived early, while others wanted to get it over with quickly before more people started reaching the polling stations, they told reporters.
It is a holiday in Wayanad LS and Chelakkara assembly constituencies on account of the bypolls.
The Wayanad constituency comprises seven assembly segments of Mananthavady (ST), Sulthan Bathery (ST), and Kalpetta in Wayanad district; Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district; and Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district.
A bypoll was necessitated in the hill constituency after Rahul Gandhi, who won the Wayanad LS seat in the general elections held earlier this year, vacated it after he also won from the Rae Bareli constituency.
There are 16 candidates in the fray for the seat with Congress-led UDF's candidate and Rahul's sister Priyanka, who is making her electoral debut, CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri and BJP-led NDA's Navya Haridas being the top contenders.
Polling in Wayanad commenced amidst tight security arrangements which included deployment of over 2,500 security personnel and live monitoring of the by-election process by an extensive webcasting system.
Voting for the Chelakkara assembly seat in Thrissur district of the state also saw people turning up early at the 177 polling stations in the constituency.
There are six candidates in the fray for the assembly seat, where a bypoll was necessitated after LDF's K Radhakrishnan -- who won from there in 2021 -- was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Alathur constituency by defeating UDF's Ramya Haridas who had won from there in 2019.
Haridas is now contesting from the Chelakkara assembly seat and is pitted against LDF's U R Pradeep and NDA's K Balakrishnan.
There were close to two lakh voters in the constituency during the 2021 assembly election in the state.
Voting began in Wayanad and Chelakkara after a mock poll was carried out by casting votes in favour of all candidates, including NOTA, whose names are there on an EVM.
