THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will probe the death case of 27-year-old Kerala man who died allegedly in police custody. The Kerala government has been asking for a CBI probe into the matter, a demand accepted by the central government on Thursday.
Puthenveetil Sreejeev, 27, died at a Thiruvananthapuram hospital on March 21, 2014, allegedly due to police torture. The Congress-led UDF was in power at the time. The youth had been taken into custody in an alleged case of theft.
While the police claimed that Sreejeev had committed suicide by consuming poison, which he had apparently concealed in his inner wear while being taken into custody, the police complaints authority, which probed into the incident, called it a custodial death. Ever since Sreejeev’s death, his younger brother Sreejith has been on an indefinite agitation seeking a CBI probe into the matter. “I will continue my protest till the CBI probe begins, will also consult legal experts,” Sreejith said.
The 29-year-old has been waging a lonely battle outside the state secretariat. His sit-in protest turned 765 days on Sunday. Powered by social media, his cause turned from Puthenveetil Sreejith’s individual struggle to a people’s struggle, with a campaign beginning a few days ago under the hashtag #justiceforsreejith.
Malayalam actors Prithviraj and Parvathy have also thrown their weight behind the cause of the protesting youth. Politicians from the Congress and BJP camps have also lent their support for the protest.
