Tamil Nadu: Temple guard dies in police custody, family alleges brutal torture

In a shocking incident from Tamil Nadu’s Sivagangai district, a 27-year-old temple security guard named Ajit Kumar allegedly died after being beaten while in police custody. According to his family, he was tortured in connection with a case of theft.

Ajit Kumar was a security guard at the Madapuram Kaliamman Temple, which is run by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department. He was arrested by the Thirupuvanam Police after a female devotee registered a complaint that approximately 80 grams of gold jewellery had been stolen from her car. She claimed that she had requested Ajit’s assistance in parking the car since she was disabled. Ajit, not knowing how to drive, requested somebody else to assist him. She said she received the keys an hour later and discovered that the jewellery was missing.

Family members of Kumar accused him of being held in custody by the police once, let off briefly, and taken into custody again. The police told the family soon after that Ajit had passed away. Kumar’s brother, Naveen, stated that both of them and some others were arrested and beaten up while being interrogated. He also said that Ajit was severely tortured to make him confess. “They beat me for half an hour in front of him so that he would confess. My brother never had any criminal record. They gagged him and beat him mercilessly,” said Naveen.

The death has outraged everyone. Sivaganga District SP Ashish Rawat has directed a probe into the incident. Opposition leaders have also come down heavily.

AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami condemned the police and asked why the government was maintaining silence on the issue. He asked for a judicial committee to investigate the incident and urged the authorities to take stern action against the culprits. “If a person is suspected of a crime, the police have to take legal recourse and produce them before the court, not take law into their own hands,” he said.

BJP state president Nainar Nagendran also raised concerns, calling the death suspicious. “Just last week, even women, including a pregnant woman, were assaulted by the police when they went to file a complaint. Now we’re hearing that Ajit and his brother were tied up, beaten, and forced to confess. This shows rising police brutality under the DMK government,” he said.

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