The Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) of the Tamil Nadu Police on Saturday arrested six policemen in connection with the custodial death of 25-year-old Vignesh.
The CB-CID also invoked the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the six policemen since Vignesh was a Dalit.
The action came a day after Chief Minister M K Stalin told the Assembly that the case relating to Vignesh’s death was altered to charges of murder based on the autopsy report that concluded the presence of over a dozen injuries on his body.
Police sources said Kumar, Pavun Raj (both head constable), Deepak (home guard), Munaf (writer), and two Armed Reserve (AR) police personnel were arrested on Saturday. All the policemen are attached to the Secretariat Colony police station in Chennai.
This is the first arrest made in the case after Vignesh’s death on April 18 – police said Vignesh died of seizures and that he was not tortured. But the family and Vignesh’s friends said the police made an attempt to bribe them to keep mum on his killing.
As the case hit headlines, Opposition parties demanded that the case be transferred to CBI, but the government said it will be probed by the CB-CID.
Published 07 May 2022, 14:08 IST