The district administration in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli has ordered an inquiry against an Indian Police Service officer after three persons accused him of custodial torture, reported The Hindu.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Balveer Singh at the Ambasamudram police division in the district has been accused of breaking teeth and crushing testicles of two persons after they were called for interrogation on the charge of attempt to murder, according to the newspaper.

Singh is a 2020-batch Indian Police Service officer with a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He was posted to Ambasamudram division as an assistant superintendent of police on October 15.

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The allegations against Singh surfaced after the suspects narrated the ordeal in a video shared on social media. The men alleged that Singh changed to plainclothes from his uniform when they were taken to the police station on March 23.

“He asked his gun-man and another policeman to hold my hands,” one of the persons identified as Chellappa said, reported The New Indian Express. “He broke my tooth with a huge gravel. Later, he put the broken pieces into my mouth and slapped me until my lips started bleeding.”

He added: “When he started beating my brother Mariappan, we begged him not to as he is newly married. But once we said that, he crushed my brother’s testicles with his left hand and kicked him on his chest.”

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After the video was shared, the matter was referred to the district collector for an independent inquiry, Tirunelveli Superintendent of Police P Saravanan told The Hindu.

“We came to know about this allegation through social media on Saturday,” Saravanan told the newspaper. “Considering the nature of the allegation, the issue has been referred to the District Magistrate under Section 151 of the Police Standing Order.”