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

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

Thursday December 9 2004 11:55 IST

 

KANCHEEPURAM: ``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.

 

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