Goldsmith dies of alleged torture

MADURAI: A goldsmith, who was arrested in a fake jewellery case on Wednesday, died under mysterious circumstances on Friday morning. The shocked relatives have accused police for torturing and killing him.
Saravanakumar (36) from Munichalai owned a small shop at South Avani Moola Street in Madurai. According to police, he learnt to make fake gold jewellery from some friends in Kumbakonam a few months ago.After returning to Madurai, he started manufacturing fake gold ornaments and pawned them in unregistered pawn shops to make quick money. He even started deploying people to pawn his fake ornaments and had pawned around 100 sovereigns of jewels at various places in the rural limits, police said.
When a gold shop owner attempted to pledge the jewellery in a local bank, it was revealed that the ornaments were not genuine. He preferred a complaint with the Thilagar Thidal police who traced Saravanakumar. When the police raided his shop, they found Rs 2.29 lakh and five fake gold bangles. He was arrested, remanded by the police and locked up in the Madurai central prison on Wednesday. Under these circumstances, Saravanakumar complained about his health to prison authorities. He was sent to the Government Rajaji Hospital for treatment where he succumbed to death in the wee hours of Friday morning.
However, his relatives charged that Saravanakumar was beaten mercilessly and the severe injuries that he sustained during the inquiry, had killed him. His father E Arumugam, denied the police version that he was the kingpin behind the fraud and said that he was only a worker who was part of the gang headed by one Dubai Pandi from Othakadai. "Of late, my son started working on his own which irked Pandi and using his police nexus, he got him arrested on February 16. After holding him for two days, the police brought him home on February 18 and collected the jewels and Rs 40,000 cash from the house. The Rs 2.29 lakh they presented was actually collected from the family on Sunday. They demanded Rs 3 lakh from us and we collected and handed it over to the police," he stated. Kalarani, wife of Saravanakumar told media persons that all the family members including two children were taken to Thilagar Thidal police on Saturday. "My husband said that the police were beating him black and blue," she said. Saravanakumar suffered from blood pressure and diabetes-related complaints and the police beating deteriorated his health, she said. "The police have killed my son by beating him," Arumugam charged.
However, police officials denied the charges levelled against them. They said Saravanakumar was formally presented to the magistrate and was remanded in the prison. If he had been tortured, it would have been revealed during the magistrate enquiry, they maintained. R Thirunavukkarasu, deputy commissioner (law and order) said a judicial enquiry had been ordered over the death. The actual cause of death can be ascertained only after the post mortem, he added.