THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The investigation of the death of a youth in police custody at Thiruvallam station has been handed over to CBI.The Chief Minister has directed to hand over the investigation to the CBI as part of the government's policy. The case was earlier being investigated by the state Crime branch.

40-year old Suresh, a native of Thiruvallam, son of C. Prabhakaran and Sudha, died on February 28. Suresh was in police custody overnight after he was arrested on a charge of assaulting a couple who had come to visit Judgikunnu. The next morning, he collapsed due to chest pain and died on the way to the hospital.

The postmortem report revealed that Suresh had 12 bruises on his body and that it may have accelerated his heart attack which led to his death. Police said that he was not injured and died of a heart attack. Bruises below the jaw on the right side of the neck, on the left side in front of the neck, on the back of the right thigh, on the right thigh above the knee, on the back of the left arm below the shoulder, on the back of the left thigh above the knee, on the back, above and below the left and right side of shoulder. The length and width of the bruise are also described, but how this happened is not given in the report.

Thiruvallam station SIs Bipin Prakash, Vaishakh and grade SI Sajeev were suspended in connection with the incident. Station House Officer Suresh Nair was also given a show cause notice. Suresh and others were arrested by the police on February 27 evening, but the first information report was registered the next morning. It is alleged that they were late to take Suresh to the hospital.