Two more cops suspended in custodial death case in Kerala

Two more cops, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, have been placed under suspension in connection with alleged custodial death of a person in March.

DYSP CK Ramachandran and Town Circle Inspector Vipindas, were suspended after their names were included in the list of accused in the case investigated by Crime Branch, official sources said today.

Twelve policemen, two of them sub-inspectors and an assistant sub-inspector, who figured as accused in the case , were suspended earlier this week.

The case relates to the death of one Sampath, the prime suspect in the murder of a businessman's wife in the town.

The woman was found murdered with her throat slit with a sharp weapon and her 70-year-old mother seriously injured at home on March 23.

Within few days, Sampath and two others were taken into custody from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. But before he was produced before court, Sampath died, allegedly due to torture he was subjected to during questioning by police.

As the issue sparked strong reactions from political circles, a crime branch probe was ordered and a special investigation team set up.