K.Letchumanan 30, Found Hanged in Police Custody. Family suspect Letchumanan was assaulted to death. December 2007

Name	Age	Date	Circumstance of death
K.Letchumanan	30	December 18, 2007	Letchumanan was arrested last Friday and detained together with his friend, M Kanniyappan, 38, for suspected involvement in the theft of grass-cutting machines. Kanniyappan was released four days later.  According to the police, Letchumanan died by hanging himself with a blanket. The police claimed that the post-mortem report revealed the same.  Letchumanan’s family members claimed that they were not informed of his arrest and only knew of his death when police officers told them Friday evening.  “They are not satisfied with the explanation of the police. Letchumanan had six children to take care of. How could he have suddenly taken his own life like that?” said the family’s neighbour B Subramaniam, 45, when contacted.  Letchumanan’s sister Sarasvathy Thevi, 32, lodged a police report on Wednesday and requested the state police chief to investigate the circumstances surrounding her brother’s death.  The family is waiting for the findings of a second post-mortem report after they rejected the first. Adding to the questions, Surendran claimed that the Raub police station has closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras.  “Leaving aside the allegation Letchumanan was assaulted to death, there’s a CCTV system in the lock-up. What were the police doing while Letchumanan was said to have hanged himself?” asked the lawyer.