2 policemen arrested in Tamil Nadu custodial death case

The Tamil Nadu Police have arrested two of its personnel in connection with the case of the alleged custodial death of a 25-year-old man in Chennai.

Crime Branch, Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) on Friday night arrested Munaf and constable Ponraj after the death of V Vignesh. The 25-year-old was arrested on April 18 and died a day after.

Yesterday nine police personnel including the two arrested appeared before investigating officers at the CB-CID office. Following the inquiry Munaf and Ponraj were arrested on charges of murder and booked under Section 302 (Punishment For Murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Three police personnel, incluing Ponraj had been suspended earlier in the case.

Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday said in the Assembly that Vignesh's death will be treated as murder. This came after a post-mortem examination report said that Vignesh's body had multiple injuries. The case was handed over to the CB-CID with the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Saravanan leading the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government had also announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the deceased.

The 25-year-old man was arrested on April 18 for alleged possession of drugs and he was reported 'dead' the next day.

Days afterwards, Vignesh's brother alleged that the police attempted to bribe the family with Rs 1 lakh to keep silent over the death. He further alleged that the police did not even allow them to see the body after the autopsy.

( With inputs from ANI )