NHRC notice to Kerala DGP over man's death in police custody

New Delhi [India], Oct. 13 (ANI): The National Human Rights Commission on Thursday took suo motu cognizance of a report that Kalimuthu, arrested in connection with a theft case, was found dead while in custody at Thalassery Police Station in Kerala on October 9. The 40-year-old hailed from Salem district of Tamil Nadu. He was, reportedly, tortured by police. The Commission has issued a notice to the Director General of Police, Kerala, calling for a detailed report including the inquest, postmortem examination, video CD of the Postmortem and other relevant reports as per standing directions given by the Commission. Issuing the notice, the Commission observed that this is a case of violation of Right to Life of a person who died in police custody where he was, reportedly, detained without any reason. "The callous attitude of the police personnel amounts to dereliction of duty on their part. The police detained them even after knowing that both of them were not guilty," the commission observed. Kalimuthu, along with another person was caught near a temple in Thalassery area by public. The police then took both of them in their custody. They later found that the two were not involved in any theft, but it did not release them immediately. According to police personnel, both of them were manhandled by the crowd after they were caught on suspicion. (ANI)