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Tamil Nadu IPS officer accused of custodial torture suspended, one of ‘victims’ backtracks
The alleged custodial torture came to light after three men — E Esakimuthu, his younger brother Chellapa and their relative Arul— in a video on March 10 narrated their alleged ordeal of brutality at the police station under IPS officer Singh on March 10.
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Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Balveer Singh, accused of custodial torture in a Tamil Nadu police station, has been placed on suspension, chief minister MK Stalin said on Wednesday.
The decision came on a day when one of the victims retracted his earlier statement, terming as “rumours” the allegations against the 2020-batch IPS officer.
“I have ordered for him to be suspended,” Stalin said in the state assembly. “I have said this before. We will not tolerate any kind of human rights violations inside police stations.”
The chief minister further said that probe into the allegations are underway. “Once the investigation is complete and we receive the full report, I assure you that further action will be taken against others who have been involved,” he said. “This is the swift action our government has taken so far.”
Also Read: Victims of torture by IPS officer in Tamil Nadu narrate their ordeal
After the allegations of custodial torture at the Ambasamudram police station in Tirunelveli district surfaced on Monday, Singh was put on a vacancy reserve by Tamil Nadu director general of police (DGP) Sylendra Babu. Singh was posted as an assistant superintendent of police at the police station.
On Monday, Tirunelveli collector KP Karthikeyan ordered a sub-magisterial probe into the allegations which began on the same day. One of the six victims who had appeared during the inquiry retracted his earlier allegations of being assaulted by the police. “Somebody is spreading rumours. I fell down and broke my tooth. Police have nothing to do with this incident,” Surya, who appeared in an N95 mask, told reporters on Wednesday.
A day ago, Surya had shown his missing tooth while accusing the police of assaulting him. When reporters asked if was being pressured by the police to change his narrative, Surya refused to answer and was subsequently taken into a police jeep.
“We are very scared especially after revealing everything,” said another victim, who appeared for the inquiry on Wednesday.
The alleged custodial torture came to light after three men — E Esakimuthu, his younger brother Chellapa and their relative Arul— in a video on March 10 narrated their alleged ordeal of brutality at the police station under IPS officer Singh on March 10. All three appeared for questioning during the enquiry.
At around 1.30 pm on March 10, Esakimuthu, his three brothers and brother-in-law were in an altercation with four other men near the Ambasumadram police station. It was a violent disagreement between the two groups over an inter-caste relationship. The police were called in, and ASP Balveer Singh, an IIT Bombay graduate and IPS officer in his first posting, along with around 25 other Tamil Nadu police officers rounded up all of them to the police station. What followed, they alleged, were12 hours of gruesome custodial torture, with some of them having their teeth pulled out with pliers, and others having their testicles crushed.
A first information report (FIR) was filed against the three men on charges of murder, while they told HT that they went to the police station as complainants of being attacked by four others armed with weapons.
More men have started coming forward with similar complaints against Singh. “We know of at least 30 people who say that they have been tortured by Singh but only 14 of them are willing to speak,” said advocate V Maharajan, who is helping the victims.
In the assembly, Stalin said in the past two years, after the DMK formed the government in May 2021, caste-based crimes have gone down in the state. “In 2019, during the previous AIADMK regime there were 1,670 murders. In 2022, under the DMK government this was reduced to 1,596… Our government has prevented 74 murders in a year,” he claimed. “The police department is taking swift action no matter who the criminal and accused are. There is no bias and politics. Murderers are being arrested immediately.”
