Pondy prison Superintendent lands in jail

Puducherry: The superintendent of Puducherry central prison V. Baskaran, who was suspended in March in connection with the mysterious death of an undertrial prisoner in November last year, was detained in the prison on Friday. Three others, including a doctor, allegedly involved in the case are absconding.

According to sources, a team from Bahour police station in Puducherry, arrested Dalit youth S. Jayamoorthy, 21, from Reddichavadi in Cuddalore district in connection with a theft of a motorcycle on November 21 last year. Police produced him before a local court and remanded him to judicial custody in the Central Prison, Kalapet, the next day.

Jayamoorthy was tortured and harassed in prison, said G. Sukumaran, secretary, Makkal Urimai Kootamaippu.     

He sustained serious injuries and after his health deteriorated he was admitted to the Government General hospital, Puducherry on November 27. However, he died in the hospital the same day.

Local residents staged a series of agitations demanding the arrest of police allegedly involved in the death of the youth. They alleged that he had succumbed to the injuries he had sustained in the assault by police and prison officials.

The chief judicial magistrate ordered a magisterial inquiry after Kalapet police registered a complaint of the mysterious death of the undertrial undergoing treatment at the government hospital. Judicial Magistrate-IV, Saranya Selvam conducted an inquiry and submitted a report to the Union Territory government. A case was registered against the then SI, Jaya Gurunathan, the then ASI, Thirumal, the then Superintendent of Central Prison, Kalapet, V. Baskaran and the doctor at the prison, Venkata Ramana Naik. Later, following the intervention of the Makkal Urimai Kootamaippu, the CID police added a section under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 in the case.

Meanwhile, Inspector general of prison Pankaj Kumar Jha,  in March 2019, suspended Baskaran, Jaya Gurunathan and K Thirumal from service.

 Dismissing the anticipatory bail petitions filed by Baskaran and Venkata Ramana Naik, the Madras High Court, on August 7, 2019, imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the Puducherry Government for not taking any action regarding the death of the Dalit youth. The court also directed the local court to complete the trial in four months.

On Friday, Baskaran surrendered before II Additional District Judge M.Suba Anbumani, who remanded him to judicial custody for 15 days. Jaya  Gurunathan, Thirumal, and Venkata Ramana Naik remained absconding.