A 35-year-old man who was held in connection with financial fraud died while undergoing treatment at the Kottayam Medical College on Wednesday. The deceased was identified as Shafique Thaiparambil, from Kanjirappally in Kottayam. He was arrested on Monday and remanded to judicial custody based on a case filed for allegedly cheating a woman in Udayamperoor in Ernakulam.
While his relatives have voiced suspicion over the death of Shafique in judicial custody, jail authorities claim that he was admitted to the Ernakulam General Hospital following an attack of epilepsy.
However, the relatives allege that Shafique died due to police torture and he was healthy when taken into custody. They also claim that the authorities did not inform them about his health condition when he was taken to the Ernakulam General Hospital. They claimed that the police telephoned them only after his condition worsened while being treated at the government medical college hospital.
His body has been shifted for postmortem, said the police.
