Yet another custodial death: Chain snatcher dies in lock-up

The city police on Tuesday detained Karthik (24) and Arunachalam (23), both from Chintadripet, following a complaint filed by Sneha (22), a techie who was robbed of her gold chain by an autorickshaw-bound gang while she was returning home from work on Sunday at around 7.30 pm. When the woman resisted the robbery attempt, she was dragged down the road from the autorickshaw causing grievous injuries. A bystander who tried to help the woman was also attacked by the assailants before they fled the scene. 

Images retrieved from CCTV cameras installed in the area helped police identify the registration number of the autorickshaw as well as two of the accused whose faces were reportedly identifiable in the CCTV images. Based on this, police detained the two men for questioning.

On Wednesday morning, Karthik was found unconscious in the lock-up and rushed to the Stanley hospital where doctors declared him ‘brought dead’. While the police claimed that he died as he became unwell while in custody, family members of the deceased alleged that he was beaten to death by the police during questioning. 

Coming close on the heels of the alleged suicide of Ramkumar, accused in the Swathi murder case, at the Puzhal prison on Sunday for which prison officials are already drawing flak, Karthik’s custodial death raises more questions about treatment and safety of suspects.

Four days after the alleged suicide of P Ramkumar, the lone accused in the young woman techie Swathi murder case, the conduct of post mortem on his body got further delayed, as a Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday referred to the Chief Justice an appeal filed by his father against a single judge order, rejecting the plea for a doctor of his choice to be present during the autopsy. Justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and S Vaidyanathan differed in their views on whether or not to allow the presence of an individual forensic expert during the autopsy as per the choice of the petitioner.