Chennai youth’s death: Family claims police tortured Vignesh leading to his demise

The family of a Chennai youth, who died in police custody on April 18, has said that this was a case of custodial death.

Twenty-five-year-old Vignesh, a resident of Pattinapakkam and a horse rider at Marina Beach, accompanied by one Suresh (28), a construction worker from Thiruvallikeni, were travelling in an autorickshaw on Monday night (April 18) when they were stopped by the police at Kellys.

A G5 Secretariat Colony police station official said they stopped the auto during night patrol on suspicion. According to the police, Vignesh and Suresh had injury marks. “The police personnel quizzed and searched them only to find ganja, liquor bottles and a knife. The two men panicked and tried to attack the cops,” the police statement read. The police overpowered them and took them to the police station where Vignesh had a seizure. They took him to the hospital but Vighnesh died on the way, the police said.

Vighnesh’s family, however, doesn’t buy the police’s story. They say Vignesh died due to custodial torture at the G5 Secretariat Colony police station.

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A family member told the media that they had no idea Vignesh was arrested. They came to know about his death only through media. At police station they were not allowed to see Vighnesh’s body and were made to wait for several hours. The family also said Vignesh had no previous history of health ailments and that the police claim of him suffering seizures is false.

Meanwhile, Suresh was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

Chennai police commissioner Shankar Jiwal has already ordered a departmental inquiry into the case. He has also asked the police personnel who were present at that time to submit a detailed report.