Six-member CBI team begins probe into custodial death of Ajith Kumar

/SIVAGANGA 

A six-member CBI team began its investigation on Monday into the custodial death of B. Ajith Kumar, a contract security guard. As the CBI registered a First Information Report on July 12 against the police personnel responsible for the death of the youth, a native of Madapuram near Tirupuvanam, the team visited the Adaikalam Katha Ayyanar Matrum Badrakaliamman temple at Madapuram.

The team, headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohit Kumar, also visited the secluded place behind the office of Assistant Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department adjacent to the temple, Thavalaikulam Kanmai, and other places where the youth was taken by a special police team.

Sivaganga Superintendent of Police (in charge) G. Chandeesh told The Hindu that the Madras High Court had ordered the Madurai and Sivaganga Collectors and SPs to provide the CBI officers with assistance required for the investigation. Hence, he accompanied the team to various locations.

After the team members arrived at the CBI office in Madurai, they collected the material evidence and the report of S. John Sundarlal Suresh, Fourth Additional District Judge, Madurai, from the Registrar (Judicial) of the Madurai Bench of the High Court. The team also sought Madurai Collector K.J. Praveen Kumar’s help in the investigation, sources said.

Hearing a batch of petitions on the custodial death on July 8, the Madurai Bench ordered the CBI to appoint an investigating officer within a week to take over the probe and submit the final report by August 20.

Solatium handed over

Minister for Co-operation K.R. Periyakaruppan, along with Sivaganga Collector K. Porkodi, handed over ₹7.5 lakh in compensation to Ajith Kumar’s family at Madapuram. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had spoken to the family on the phone and assured them of government assistance.

On July 2, Mr. Periyakaruppan handed over an order of appointment to B. Naveen Kumar, the brother of Ajith Kumar, as a technician at the Sivaganga district co-operative milk producers’ union in Karaikudi. He also handed over a land patta to the family.