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‘I saw injuries... scared of asking anything,’ says Chennai custodial death victim’s brother
While Vinod never studied due to their poverty, he managed to send two of his younger brothers to corporation-run schools while Vignesh has been working in the Marina beach since he was 12 renting horses for joy rides.
V Vignesh, the 25-year-old man who died in police custody, was an orphan raised by his older brother V Vinod. They are a family of six male siblings who lost their father at a young age; their mother who was mentally ill also died early. “We grew up on the roads,” says 30-year-old Vinod, the eldest who cared for his younger brothers and is now fighting a new battle after Vignesh died in custody.
Vinod narrates that he used to make his brothers sleep on the open Marina beach in Chennai. “And during rain and storm, I moved them to sleep inside the Thiruvallikeni railway station. Ask anyone there about six brothers and they will tell you everything about us,” Vinod says. “I used to give my brothers a bath in public toilets.” They washed their clothes and their uniforms there.
While Vinod never studied due to their poverty, he managed to send two of his younger brothers to corporation-run schools while Vignesh has been working in the Marina beach since he was 12 renting horses for joy rides.
“We have no family except an aunt. We have no ration card. I’ve taken care of my brothers and after so much struggle, one among us has died in the hands of some brutal policemen,” says Vinod.
Vinod gave his statement to the judicial magistrate in Chennai’s Egmore court on Wednesday. “I gave my statement on whatever I saw, whatever that happened and I’ve demanded that the policemen should be punished,” he said.
A day earlier Vinod had told HT that the post-mortem shows the same injuries which he saw on his dead brother when he was called to identify his body at the magistrate’s court. “I saw injuries on his eyebrow, mouth, hands and the sole of his foot,” Vinod had said. “But we were terrified of asking anything. There were 50-60 policemen, senior policemen and one of them had already threatened my younger brother Veera.”
Vinod says on the day of his younger brother’s death, he and two other siblings were brought to the police station and then to a nearby mansion. “One of the policemen handed over ₹50,000 to Veera and threatened him to remain quiet. Later they gave us another ₹50,000. Three policemen remained with us till the last rites were over. They didn’t let us speak to even one another, let alone allow us to speak to someone outside.”
The second instalment of the money, Vinod said, was sent through Vignesh’s employer Ranjith on the beach.
The vice chairman of the National Commission of Scheduled Castes, Arun Halder, was also in Chennai on Wednesday to probe the crime as Vinod’s family belongs to the SC community. Vinod and his family say they have left the money untouched and only want justice for his brother.
