Nagarcoil trader assaulted in jail, died from injuries: CB-CID

KANNIYAKUMARI: Sabari Varman, a 34-year-old differently abled trader who died in Nagercoil district prison on July 13 was tied up with strips of his own lungi and beaten up by prison staff and fellow prisoners, causing grievous injuries and breathlessness leading to his death around 3 am, the CB-CID said in a 12,000-page chargesheet filed before the Nagercoil Judicial Magistrate Court no. 1 on October 12.

The chargesheet says Varman rolled on the floor in pain, weeping and wailing, before he died.

The Thenthamaraikulam police arrested Varman from Eethankatti near Suchindram in Kanniyakumari district, on July 9 for allegedly keeping banned tobacco products in a petty shop near his home, and lodged him in the district prison. He was found dead in the prison under mysterious circumstances on July 13. The Nesamony police arrested 11 people — three prison staff and eight prisoners — in connection with his death. The case was later transferred to the CB-CID.

The CB-CID investigation found that Varman had been in severe mental distress ever since he was brought to the prison. At midnight of the incident, he allegedly screamed inside his cell, frustrated at not getting alcohol.

According to the chargesheet, the prison administration gave him sleeping pills to calm him, but he did not sleep and continued to shout. Enraged, prison staff and prisoners allegedly assaulted him repeatedly between 11:30 pm and 12:30 am.

After the assault, they tied his hands and legs with a spare lungi from his bag for a while and then untied him.

Although prison rules provide for chaining the legs of violent prisoners, the hook of the chain was broken that day. When Varman kept shouting, they again roughly tied his hands and legs together with the strips of the lungi around 2.30 pm and assaulted him again.

Before 3 am he died of injuries from the assault and breathlessness caused by the tight knots.

Around 5:30 am, when prison guards came to take routine headcount, they found Varman lying motionless, face down on the floor.

The postmortem examination and laboratory reports confirmed that the direct cause of death was the severe injuries from the assault and breathlessness.

The CB-CID questioned three accused prison staff — warden Jagan, chief warden Suresh and guard Sivakumar — at Nanguneri prison, where they are lodged. It also questioned the eight accused prisoners — Vishnu, Sarathi, Jagan, Sarath, Perumal, Sethuram, Ajith and Aravind — lodged at Palayamkottai prison.

Investigators also reviewed footage from six key surveillance cameras from 5 pm on the day of the incident to 8 am the next morning, and sent it for examination. The chargesheet cites several witnesses and relies on this evidence.