Manamadurai custodial death: Six police personnel suspended

Madurai: Six police personnel have been suspended in connection with the custodial death of Akash in Manamadurai in Sivaganga.Deputy inspector general of police, Ramanathapuram range, N Manivannan, on Friday ordered the suspension of inspector of police of Thiruppuvanam police station, Dileepan; sub-inspector, Manamadurai police station, Gugan; head constable Deivendran, attached to Sivaganga Town police station; head constable Sarathkumar, attached to Sipcot police station; constable Kaliswaran, attached to Manamadurai police station; and constable Manoharan, attached to Thiruppuvanam police station.Meanwhile, Madras high court on Friday reserved orders on the plea moved by A Rajeshkannan, the father of deceased Akash, seeking a direction to register a criminal case for the murder arising out of alleged custodial torture.On Thursday, the court was informed that the case was altered to Section 103 (murder) of BNS and Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. When the case was taken up for hearing on Friday, the state submitted that the govt provided compensation of 6 lakh to the family of the deceased youth, as per the SC/ST Act. The state further submitted that, pursuant to the order of the court, the protesters dispersed from the spot on Thursday evening.Counsel for the petitioner, Henri Tiphagne, submitted that there were discrepancies in the postmortem report of Akash, and the same could be referred to experts for their opinion. He further submitted that the forensic departments should be upgraded.Taking into account the submissions, justice L Victoria Gowri reserved orders in the case.