Intensifying her fight to bring those responsible for her husband's custodial death to book, Varappuzha-native Sreejith's wife Akhila filed a writ petition at the Kerala High Court, seeking a CBI probe.
In the petition filed at the court on Tuesday, Akhila has sought for a CBI probe citing that since the accused in the case are policemen, a probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is unlikely to be unbiased.
"Top police officers are also involved in this, but the investigation till now was conducted without bringing them into the purview of the probe. We believe if CBI inquires this case, they will include top police officers too, who are responsible for the death of my husband," Akhila told Asianet News.
Confirming this to TNM, Sreejith's father Pradeep said that Akhila has also sought for a compensation amounting to Rs 1 crore from the state government.
Sreejith's family's demand for a CBI probe comes at a time when the Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala is observing a 24-hour fast demanding the same. The senior Congress leader has also demanded that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan give up the Home Ministry portfolio.
Sreejith, who was arrested by the Varappuzha police, died at a hospital on April 9. Sreejith was picked up under the allegation that he was one of the people who barged into the house of a 56-year-old man to threaten him, which forced the man to take his own life.
However, the Kerala police was soon mired in a controversy, when allegations of custodial torture surfaced. Sreejith's family too accused the police officers of torturing him.
The post-mortem report accessed by the media later, stated that Sreejith had about 20 injuries on his body, including his abdomen, validating that he was tortured before his death.
The incident has come as a huge loss-of-face for the LDF government, that was trying to sell the image of people-friendly police force. Four policemen were arrested in the case and the Ernakulam Rural SP AV George was transferred after the SIT took over the probe.