The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday registered a First Information Report in the case of the custodial death of Puthenveettil Sreejiv, who had died while in the custody of the Kerala Police in 2014. The agency had taken over the case on January 19.

Sreejiv’s brother Sreejith has been protesting for close to 800 days outside the state secretariat demanding punishment for the accused. He had earlier said that he would not end his protest till the investigation actually begins. The investigating agency had turned down a similar request by the state government in July 2017 as “it was not an exceptional case that warranted the central agency’s investigation”.

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Sreejith’s protest gained momentum in the last few weeks after hundreds of people marched on the streets of Thiruvananthapuram in solidarity. The protest has also had many supporters on social media and from actors and politicians across parties.

The case

Sreejiv died on May 21, 2014, in a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, two days after he was taken into custody on charges of theft. Sreejith said that the police took his brother to the police station the day before a woman he was believed to be in a relationship with was getting married. Sreejith said that his brother was arrested at the behest of the woman’s relative, who was a policeman.

The police, however, claimed that Sreejiv committed suicide by consuming poison while being taken into custody. He had concealed the poison in his underwear, they alleged. But the State Police Complaints Authority, which carried out an inquiry, confirmed in 2016 that Sreejiv had died due to police torture, and that officials had fabricated evidence to cover up the murder. However, the Kerala High Court put a stay on the proceedings against the accused policemen.