Chennai: Police as well as relatives of Ambasamudram Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Balveer Singh, who is under suspension pending inquiry following allegations of custodial torture, have been accused of trying to bribe the victims to silence them.
At least five of the torture victims have allegedly been offered money to change their testimony against the IPS officer, according to statements made to ThePrint by a lawyer who was among the first to blow the whistle on the allegations, as well as an auto driver who claims to have been tortured by Singh.
One of the victims has retracted his statement against Singh.
ThePrint reached the Tamil Nadu Police department for a reaction in this regard, but did not get a response.
The state government Friday ordered a high-level inquiry, headed by IAS officer P. Amudha, into the complaints against Singh. The commission has been asked to submit its report within a month.
Singh, a 2020-batch officer, is accused of subjecting multiple men to brutal torture while they were in custody — he is alleged to have plucked the teeth of at least 10 accused with cutting pliers, and “crushed” the testicles of two.
After allegations against Singh surfaced on 23 March, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin ordered his suspension. Addressing the Tamil Nadu assembly, he assured action against the officer based on the findings of an inquiry ordered by Tirunelveli district collector K.P. Karthikeyan.
On 3 April, Singh appeared before the State Human Rights commission, which suo motu took up the complaints against him. The commission has ordered the three police stations in Ambasamudram — Ambasamudram, Kallidaikurichi and Vickramasingapuram — to submit in the next two weeks the CCTV footage and DVR recordings from 18-23 March.
On Monday, through an order issued by Home Secretary Phanindra Reddy, the Tirunelveli district Superintendent of Police P. Saravanan was put on “compulsory wait” and shifted to the DGP’s office in Chennai.
Special branch constables Bogan and Rajakumar have been transferred to Armed Reserve (AR), Palayamkottai. Sub-inspector Vasudevan has been placed under suspension on corruption charges.
Apart from this, Kallidaikurichi station inspectors Abraham, Ramalingam and Rajakumari, Ambasamudram station inspector C. Chandramohan and Singh’s two gunmen Saddam and K. Vignesh are also under the scanner in the case.
In recent years, multiple reports of custodial torture have emerged in Tamil Nadu, including a 2020 case where a father and son — arrested for violating the Covid lockdown — died after allegedly being tortured for hours.
Last April, two friends were detained by the police in Chennai after a vehicle check allegedly revealed ganja and liquor bottles in the autorickshaw they were travelling in. The two were allegedly subjected to torture in custody. One of them suffered seizures the next day and died soon after.
While some retired police officers attribute such instances of torture to movie depictions of police, the Tamil Nadu IPS Officers’ Association has, in Singh’s case, asked the media to “exercise discretion on publication of this matter till the completion of the inquiry for the impartial administration of justice”.
The association has alleged efforts to influence the investigation against Singh, alleging in a statement that “vested interests are being propagated on social media to influence evidence, witnesses, investigating agencies and the public”.
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How it all unfolded
The allegations against Singh came to light on 23 March, when a video of one of victims talking about his alleged torture went viral. Following this, other victims too came out with similar accounts.
Two of the alleged incidents of custodial torture reportedly took place in the Kallidaikuruchi station on 10 March. One involved three men named Lakshmi Shankar, Subash and Venkatesh — taken into custody in an attempt to murder case — and the other centred on a 49-year-old auto driver taken in for a family dispute.
Talking to ThePrint, Subash said “Singh’s gunman K. Vignesh handed over a pair of cutting pliers to the officer, who then plucked one tooth from Shankar’s mouth and then pulled out three of my teeth”.
“When Venkatesh refused to open his mouth out of fear, he was threatened to either open his mouth or see Shankar and me being tortured more. We pleaded with Venkatesh to open his mouth,” he added.
Later, the ASP allegedly plucked out three of Venkatesh’s teeth too. Subash added that even as they were bleeding profusely, they were made to clean up the bloodstains from the floor.
Advocate Maharajan of the activist group Netaji Subash Sena organisation, who was among the first to expose the allegations, claimed “Subash, Shankar and Venkatesh were given Rs 30,000 each and made to sign [a document that said] they broke their teeth in a fall”.
The auto driver, Vedha Narayanan, told ThePrint that two policemen took him from Vickramasingapuram (VK Puram) in Ambasamudram to the station, where he was “made to strip and left to wait in his underwear for two hours till Singh arrived”.
Vedha said he remembered the first word he heard from Singh when he entered the station — “Keedar (where?)”. Vedha alleged he was taken to the first floor of the police station where he was “subjected to torture despite pleading with the officials that I had a nervous disorder”.
His teeth were also allegedly plucked out by Singh using cutting pliers.
After he came forward to file a complaint against the ASP, Naryanan was allegedly approached by policemen who promised him multiple things — including money — to remain silent.
Maharajan claimed a 22-year-old named Surya, who was also “subjected to similar third-degree torture in custody”, was allegedly offered Rs 45,000 and threatened to change his statement in front of the sub-collector. On 29 March, Surya retracted his statement against the officer and said he had sustained injuries in a fall.
In another case, five brothers who run a meat stall in Ambasamudram were allegedly picked up by police over a group clash and tortured in custody. The brothers are among the few who have now come forward to give their statement against the ASP.
One of the brothers, who is newly married, has alleged that the officer hurt his testicles and plucked out his and his brothers’ teeth.
Allegations of efforts to silence testimony have also emerged in connection with the case of the two friends mentioned above — V. Vignesh, who died, and G. Suresh.
Vignesh’s brothers, who have been waging a battle for justice following his death, allegedly lived in hiding for several months owing to police pressure to withdraw the case.
The CB-CID filed a chargesheet in the case against six policemen in November 2022 for alleged murder and under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989.
“It is going to be a year since Vignesh’s death and we are still waiting for justice,” said Vijay, one of his brothers.
“These victims all have just one demand,” Maharajan said. “Punishment for those involved in the brutal torture.”
Is police excess influenced by films?
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, as many as 478 police/judicial custodial deaths took place in Tamil Nadu in the 5 years between 2016 and 2021. During the same period, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommended monetary compensation for 23 custodial deaths in the state.
As many as 172 custodial death cases were registered in the state between April 2020 and March 2022.
However, between 2017 and 2021, there was no conviction in connection with custodial deaths.
According to a few retired police officers, exaggerated movie depictions of the righteous cop who hits the bad guy and ensures justice have some influence on police personnel.
Talking to ThePrint, retired Superintendent of Police M. Karunanidhi said, “Films are exaggerated and this does influence young men.”
Noting that a probationary IPS officer being suspended is unseen, he added, “He is in a situation where he has exceeded his limit out of enthusiasm.”
Retired DGP Dr M. Ravi suggested that the National Police Academy must review its curriculum and ensure a proper Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on what an ASP should do in the first posting. “The performance of the officer must be closely monitored during their probation period.”
Retired police officers who spoke to ThePrint added that the current scenario points to the failure of seniors in monitoring and supervising the ASP.
“An IPS-rank ASP should be put under a direct IPS-rank SP, as the feeling of coming from the same stock will ensure a good equation between the officials,” Ravi added.
Henri Tiphange, executive director of the human rights NGO People’s Watch, said the IPS Officers’ Association’s statement showed it “at the lowest ebb”.
Demanding an FIR against Singh, he added, “They are torturing you in the prison, openly threatening you and offering money.”
Henri claimed that even a few minors were tortured, handcuffed and made to travel in a private vehicle. “These tortures are similar to what we had seen in the Sathankulam custodial death case where the father-son duo — Jayaraj and Bennix — were tortured in custody that led to their death,” he added.
“Just checking the CCTV cameras in the police stations will reveal the truth,” he said. “They are hoodwinking the public,” he added, referring to the inquiry being carried out.
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)
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