Chennai: Kin return bribe given for covering up custodial death

Chennai: Three days after a robbery suspect died in police custody, the family caused a flutter at the city police commissionerate by returning the bribe they were forced to take to keep the custodial violence under wraps.

Deceased Karthik alias ‘Meen Kuzhambu’ Karthik’s kin including his mother Ganga petitioned the city police commissioner top brass, and was asked to meet the grievances redressal officer.

The family brought the money Rs 2 lakh, the first installment of the Rs 4 lakh sum promised by a Kannagi Nagar police officer, and produced the money to the officer, who heard their plea. The woman police officer, who refused to accept the money, advised them to return the money to the cop, who gave it to them.

Ganga claimed that she had seen her son's body at the morgue at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), and that there were bleeding injuries all over the body. “We tried to take pictures, but we were not allowed to do it. We were chased out of the morgue. We received the body after post-mortem.

However, the cops did not furnish the copy of the FIR. We want the top brass to intervene, and take action against the cops who thrashed my son to death when he was kept under illegal custody,” she said.

“Two cops approached them at their residence, and offered them '4 lakh. They gave Rs 2 lakh though we were not willing to take it. They also suggested not taking this issue any further. This clearly shows that they had beaten Karthik to death,” said Rajesh, cousin of the deceased.

Karthik and his friend Arun aka Arunachalam were picked up by the cops on charges of robbing a techie besides injuring her, and a grocer who came in support of her when she was walking home along Sakthi Srinivasan Salai, Mettukuppam, in Thoraipakkam on Sunday night past. They were also charged with two other robberies, one more in Thoraipakkam and another in Adyar. Cops claimed that Karthik swooned on Wednesday morning during interrogation and died.