I was hung upside down, stripped, placed on ice: Seer case accused

Publication: The Indian Express

“Policemen probing Sankararaman murder case threatened to kill me if I did not confess to the crime,” said Chinna alias Rajnikanth, one of the prime accused in the murder case. The threat was not once, but twice, he added.

While appearing before the Kancheepuram Judicial Magistrate G Uthamaraj for remand extension, Chinna's counsel Darwin Wisdom submitted a petition narrating the police excess meted out to his client.

In the petition, Chinna said on November 1, the Kanchi policemen came to his residence in GKM Colony in Villivakkam, Chennai, and took him in a police van to a bungalow in Uthandi on the East Coast Road.

“In the bungalow, the police beat me black and blue by hanging me upside down. They also pricked me using needles. Later, they placed huge ice bars and tortured me. After stripping me completely, they pushed me inside a tub full of water and made to gasp for breath,” Chinna said.

He also said that the police kicked him on his mouth forcing him to confess to the crime. "They also threatened to intimidate my parents," he alleged.

During his 10-day stay in the bungalow and a few other places till November 10, the police provided him food only twice a day, he lamented.

On November 10 when he was produced before the very court, the police sought permission for a five-day custody and after the same was granted, the third-degree treatment continued, he further alleged.

During the custody, the police intimidated him saying that if he were to reveal the treatment meted out to him, they would seek two more days and during that period, he would be shot to death on the pretext that he tried to escape from police custody, Chinna stated in the petition.

“Fearing this threat, I did not reveal all these incidents when I was produced before the court on November 11,” Chinna, a medical dropout, said adding that now he was able to do so after his lawyers explained to him that the police “cannot seek any more time for interrogation.”

Because of the continued police excess, though he wanted to make a detailed submission he was not in a position to do that, Chinna said adding he was submitting the petition now. He also prayed that the court considered the same while rendering justice.

In addition to the above petition, Chinna's counsel Darwin Wisdom filed another one highlighting the misdemeanour of the Chennai Central Prison authorities.

Meanwhile, the Magistrate extended the judicial remand of Kathiravan, Chinna and Ambi till December 22.