THOOTHUKUDI: The Friends of Police (FoP) volunteers allegedly involved in the custodial death of the father-son duo did not have authorised identity cards, if sources are to be believed. It is also said that they were roped in for distributing government welfare assistance to the public.
Even as the CB-CID Inspector General of Police K Shankar said that the role of the FoPs needed to be investigated, the volunteers who are suspected to have been involved in the case are now absconding. The CB-CID sleuths have launched a manhunt for them.
Meanwhile, the FoP state authorities vehemently denied the ‘role’ of FoPs in the Sathankulam incident. "The volunteers in question have neither been registered as FoP members nor attended any training session or given FoP identity cards," said an official statement.
The relatives of Jeyaraj and Beniks have been demanding to slap murder charges on the volunteers who “tortured the deceased in police custody” at Sathankulam station on June 19. It is to be noted that the presence of volunteers at the Sathankulam police station to assist the police personnel on torturing the suspects was confirmed by the eye witnesses.
A suspect, who was inquired by the then Inspector Srithar and Sub-Inspector Ragu Ganesh, told TNIE that both policemen asked two such volunteers to hold his hands and legs while beating.
Petitions by Jeyaraj’s widow Selvarani have a mention of four volunteers. Similarly, the complaint lodged by Sudalai Vadivu (65) against SI Ragu Ganesh had also mentioned that volunteers attacked her son Mahendran. According to Sudalai, his son was illegally detained. Mahendran died of severe head injuries on June 13.
According to official sources privy to the investigation, the names of volunteers mentioned in the petition of Selvarani are not in the list of Friends of Police (FoP) available with them. But, their names are found in the Covid volunteers list and they have volunteer identity cards, sources added.
"The sleuths are checking the veracity of the statements of the women police who witnessed the incidents by scrutinising the recovered CCTV camera footage," the source said, adding that further course of investigation will proceed only after gathering solid evidence.
According to the district administration, over 2,000 persons were given volunteer passes in April to supply essentials to the public in containment zones. Some of the volunteers helped deliver tokens for deserving family card holders to avoid crowds at ration shops for collecting the government's `1,000 relief.
Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police S Jeyakumar told TNIE that there were over 500 FoPs in the district and that he did not want to comment as the Sathankulam case is being investigated by CB-CID.
An auto-rickshaw driver, who had served for 15 years as FoP, told TNIE that he welcomes the move to restrict the use of FoPs for now. "We had earned good as well as bad reputation in the society," he said. Recalling his experience, he said at times police personnel include their names as witnesses and put them in a fix.
The CB-CID sleuths so far arrested five policemen, including the inspector and sub inspectors, in connection with the custodial death of P Jeyaraj and J Beniks.
Even as involvement of FoPs and volunteers during police investigations is being widely criticised, Tirunelveli DIG Praveen Kumar Abinapu suspended FOP services in four southern districts -- Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari.