Police insist drunken Chitra had injured herself
Victim’s daughter said she found her mother lying dead with skull smashed
By : j. stalin
Update: 2014-09-11 05:23 GMT
Chennai:The police on Wednesday insisted that murder accused Chitra (name changed) sustained bruises on her limbs after falling down in inebriated condition and there was no truth in her daughter’s allegation that she was badly hurt due to custodial torture in extracting confession that she killed her landlady.
Inspector A. Dhavamani of Udumalpet police station, in his counter-affidavit, stoutly denied B. Rajakumari’s petition that her mother was tortured in his station during August 10-14 and the murder confession forced out of her after brutal attack and inserting lathi in private parts.
He said Chitra had herself admitted, in a recorded statement before the village administrative officer (VAO) on August 14, at about 10 am, that she had killed landlady Leelavathi because she was compelling her to vacate the house.
When asked about the contusions on her limbs, she said she had sustained injuries “when she fell down in a drunken mood on August 12 at about 8 pm on her way home”, the inspector said in his counter.
“This clearly establishes that the entire allegations of torture by the police mentioned in the affidavit of the petitioner is totally false”, he said. He said based on the confession, the key of the landlady’s house was seized from the pillow cover kept in Chitra’s house.
The police had begun investigation into Leelavathi’s murder following a complaint from her daughter Krishnaveni that she found her mother’s door locked when she went to visit her at about 7 pm on August 9 Leelavathi, 65, a widow, was living alone.
Her mother was lying dead with her skull smashed with a grinder stone, she had told the police. Inspector Dhavamani said the police carried out comprehensive investigation, which included questioning Leelavathi’s three daughters and her daughter-in-law, besides the neighbours and a man, Chandrasekar, at whose place Chitra had stayed during the night of August 8.
The man told the police that Chitra, looking disturbed, had gone to his place seeking shelter for the night because her landlady had told her to vacate. Investigation also revealed that the landlady had asked Chitra to vacate after receiving complaints that “strange men were frequenting her house”. One of her tenants Md. Rafeeq had complained to Leelavathi that Chitra was consuming liquor in her room “even during daytime”, the inspector said.