TENKASI: Family members of farmer V Anthonyraj, who died of suicide over alleged police ill-treatment, took his body from the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital (TvMCH) on Tuesday after the three accused policemen were suspended.
The suspended policemen belong to Sivagiri police station. The Sivagiri police have also registered a case against the suspended policemen for abetting the suicide of V Anthonyraj.
The suspended personnel are police inspector Muralidharan and constables Kanagaraj and Karumuthu Kannan, police sources said.
Deshmukh Shekhar Sanjay, Deputy Inspector General of Police (in charge), Tirunelveli Range, suspended them on Tuesday.
A day earlier, Anthonyraj’s family members staged a protest in Sivagiri demanding action against the police officers for the suicide. A case was soon registered against the trio. However, the protesters demanded their suspension and refused to take his body from the hospital.
Anthonyraj died at TvMCH on Sunday where he was admitted after consuming poison outside the police station on May 21.
“Police had repeatedly called Anthonyraj to the police station since May 1, after his neighbor had reported a land dispute.
On May 15, the police inspector allegedly slapped Anthonyraj and abused him verbally. The inspector also went to his village, Thalavaipuram, and searched for his son Esakkiraja, thereby frightening the family. Anthonyraj then petitioned senior police officers and Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission against the Inspector,” police sources said.
Annoyed by the developments, Anthonyraj took the extreme step of releasing the venom nearly a week ago.
Meanwhile, Esakkiraja asked the police to hand over the CCTV footage from the Sivagiri police station from the day his father first appeared there for questioning.
