Judicial panel submits report on custodial death to govt

The nearly 150-page report was handed over toVijayan by Justice K Narayana Kurup, who headed the commission.K Rajkumar 49 had been taken into police custody on June 12, 2019, in connection with a financial fraud and produced before the Magistrate on June 16.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 7 (PTI): The Judicial Commission, which probed into the alleged custodial death of a remand prisoner at a police station in Idukki district of Kerala, submitted its report to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday. The nearly 150-page report was handed over toVijayan by Justice K Narayana Kurup, who headed the commission.

K Rajkumar (49) had been taken into police custody on June 12, 2019, in connection with a financial fraud and produced before the Magistrate on June 16. He died at a hospital on June 21.

Following public outcry, the state governmenthad appointed the Judicial Commission to look into various aspects related to the custodial death. Justice Kurup had ordered exhuming of the body and a re- postmortem was conducted because there were lapses in the first autopsy report as the internal organs of the deceased had not been sent for expert examination.

The second autopsy report had revealed 21 injuries, which did not find mention in the first report. The panel report would be tabled before the Assembly, commission sources said.

Rajkumar was taken into custody on June 12 by the police and was allegedly tortured for four days following which he died. At least four police personnel had been arrested in connection with the case.