THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government is yet handover the investigation of the case of two-wheeler rider Manoharan who died in the custody of Kochi Hill Palace Police after the physical assault of the SI, to the CBI. In October 2019, the government had announced that they would hand over custodial death cases to the CBI. But the moves to prevent the arrival of CBI are active in the police.

Jimmy Jose, the SI who assaulted Manoharan, has been suspended, but further action is dragging on. The CBI investigation on the Manoharan case is not getting started, over the pretext that he was healthy and that he was not assaulted at the station. Kochi Commissioner K Sethuraman says that only the SI who assaulted Manoharan is guilty, and the two accused in the jeep and the two bailers of Manoharan have not given a statement against the police. But it is the practice of the police to change the testimony of witnesses by threatening them. In Udayakumar custodial death case, the CBI had proved that the general diary of the station was altered, witnesses were threatened and false cases were filed.

Kerala also accepted this on the basis of the Supreme Court's order asking the CBI to investigate deaths in the custody of state forces. Subsequently, the custodial death of Rajkumar of Nedumkandam, Ranjith of Pavaratty, and Thiruvallam Suresh was left to the CBI. More than 20 people have died in police custody in a decade.

The course will change if CBI comes

• The CBI, including the district police chief, is facing an investigation in the Nedunkandam case.
• The policemen were given the death penalty in the Udayakumar custodial death case.
• The Police Complaints Authority did not file a case as neither Manohar's relatives nor friends filed a complaint.
• A case cannot be filed by the Authority on its own initiative.

Suspected as a thief

Manoharan was taken into custody on suspicion of bike theft as he had no documents. The document was not verified even after being brought to the station. In the Udayakumar murder case, he too was taken into custody on suspicion of theft and was tortured to death on a bench at the Fort station.