The Tamil Nadu Director General of Police JK Tripathi has passed orders to transfer the recent alleged Cuddalore custodial death case of a 40-year-old man to the Crime Branch CID (CBCID). The case pertains to the death of Selvamurugan, who died in judicial custody at Virudhachalam jail on November 4.

The DGP JK Tripathi on Friday transferred the case to the CBCID. The wife and kin of the deceased man continued to protest on Saturday, alleging that he died due to custodial torture.

Selvamurugan of Panruti was picked up by Neyveli town police in Vadalur under suspicion of theft on October 28. After an investigation, he was remanded to judicial custody at Virudhachalam jail on November 2. His wife Prema went to meet him on November 2 and said that he could not speak to her properly. The police nearby said that he sustained injuries to the neck and that he was unable to eat.

Prema returned home and on Wednesday night, she received a call informing her that her husband had been taken to the hospital. When she rushed to the Virudhachalam Government Hospital along with her children, she was told that her husband had suffered seizures and had died.

Prema and her relatives immediately started to protest. They refused to receive the body and alleged that he died of custodial torture. Prema alleged that her husband’s body had several wounds on the neck and back, and that he had been tortured to death. Prema and her relatives protested for the third consecutive day and sought the intervention of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

A neighbour of the family alleged, “There is evidence that Selvakumar had been beaten and tortured to death. The police have kept him in a hotel and have ill-treated him. They have also kept him under custody for two days from October 29-30. So there is evidence of the death.”

However, he alleged, “There is also no proper response from the Magistrate after the post-mortem. Hence we want the Chief Minister to intervene and take the investigation forward in a fair manner.”