A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday found five policemen guilty in the custodial death of Udayakumar, a scrapyard employee in 2005.
Two of the police officers found guilty of murder, K Jithakumar and SV Sreekumar, had apprehended Udayakumar and his friend Sathish Kumar from Sreekanteswaram Park in Kerala’s capital on September 27, 2005, suspecting them to be thieves, The Hindu reported.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which took up the case in 2007, said the officers then spread-eagled Udayakumar on a bench at the local police station, bound him and crushed his thighs with a pipe. The injuries were fatal.
The court accepted the testimony of forensic expert Thomas Alex, who said there were bloodstains on the bench on which Udayakumar was tortured, and a blood-stained metal pipe, both of which he examined. Another forensic expert, K Sreekumari, a teacher at Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, who conducted an autopsy on Udayakumar’s body said the injuries were of a kind which could be inflicted using the metal pipe.
CBI Special Judge J Nazar also held three police officers – then Assistant Commissioner (Fort) TK Haridas, then Circle inspector EK Sabu, and then Sub Inspector Ajith Kumar – guilty of conspiracy to register a false case against Udayakumar after his death. He also found that the three officers fudged station records. Another accused officer, KV Soman, died during the trial.
The five convicted police officers will be sentenced on Tuesday evening.
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