Alappuzha, Saturday, 15, October, 2011:Trial in the custodial torture case, in which Inspector General of Police Tomin J. Thachankary is the first accused, will begin at the Alappuzha Chief Judicial Magistrate Court here on October 22.

The proceedings were scheduled to begin on Friday, with both sides, including Thachankary and the seven other accused officers, being present. However, with counsels of both sides asking for more time, Chief Judicial Magistrate P. Ragini posted the case to October 22.

Thachankary, along with seven other police officers, has been accused of falsely implicating a person in a murder case and torturing him in custody. The episode is in connection with a case registered against Prakashan, a resident of Punnapra, which was booked by Thachankary when he was Assistant Superintendent of Police, Alappuzha, in 1991.

Thachankary allegedly altered a suicide case into one of murder and accused Prakashan of being the culprit, after which he took Prakashan into custody and allegedly tortured him to confess to the crime. Prakashan, who was in custody for seven days and in remand for 57 days, was released after a public action council intervened.
A consequent Crime Branch inquiry found that the murder case was false and that Prakashan was innocent of the crime he was charged with.

Prakashan then lodged a complaint against Thachankary, after which the case with the senior police officer as first accused was registered. The High Court had ordered that the proceedings in the case should be completed within 60 days of the trial.
(News Agency)