Even as the Justice (retd) K. Narayana Kurup-headed commission, appointed by the Kerala government to probe the alleged custodial death of a financial agent in Idukki district last month, is set to exhume the body to ascertain the actual cause of death, the state government on Wednesday decided to provide a government job to his wife besides Rs 16 lakh compensation to the family.

Rajkumar, 49, died in custody on June 21 after allegedly being subjected to brutal third degree torture at the Nedumkandam police station.

At the weekly cabinet meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, it was decided to give a government job to Rajkumar's widow and Rs 1.6 million to his family, which includes his wife, mother and two children.

According to reports, Rajkumar was rounded up on June 12 by a group of people who he owed money to, and handed over to the Nedumkandam police. The police, however, recorded his arrest on June 16 and later shifted him to the state-run Peerumedu Taluk Hospital, where he died on June 21.

Though the post-mortem mentioned pneumonia as the cause of death, 22 injury marks on Rajkumar's body, most of them below the thighs, were found indicating third degree torture in custody.

Earlier, another accused in the financial fraud case along with Rajkumar, had alleged that the police brutally tortured Rajkumar with the intention to kill.

Speaking to the media on July 7, Shalini, who was one of the managing directors of Haritha Financiers (which was owned by Rajkumar), said that the police physically assaulted both her and Rajkumar after they were arrested. “The police asked Rajkumar sir to kneel down on his knees and the moment he knelt down, they started thrashing him with a cane,” said Shalini.

Till now, four police officials attached to the police station have been arrested and sent to judicial custody.

With IANS inputs