Author:
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: December 9, 2004
URL: http://www.newindpress.com//Newsitems.asp?ID=IET20041208133627&Topic=&Title=&Page=
"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.
