Juvenile delinquent's death: 6, including superintendent, held

CHENNAI: A couple of weeks after the mother of a juvenile delinquent raised concerns about the death of her son under mysterious circumstances in a Government observation home in Chengelpet, Police arrested six persons, including the superintendent of the home, for allegedly beating the boy to death.

The victim, Gokul Sri (17) of Kannadapalayam near Tambaram was arrested by the railway police for the alleged theft of a battery on December 28. He was admitted to a government home for boys the next day.

Meanwhile, on December 31, Gokul was taken to the Government Chengelpet hospital after he allegedly developed health complications. Within hours, he died without responding to treatment.

His mother, Nirmala filed a complaint to the district administration claiming that her son was beaten to death. In her complaint, Nirmala stated that her son was healthy when he was arrested and stated that there is no way he could have developed health complications.

She also suspected physical attack on her son. Subsequently, an enquiry was ordered into the incident after which Chengelpet town police arrested six persons - S Mohan (30), Superintendent, P Vidyasagar (33), Assistant Superintendent, J Honesh Raj, (29), Barber inside the home, D Vijayakumar (30), warden, M Saranraj, warden and R Chandrababu (40), house master. All the accused are from the Social defence department.

According to a senior police officer, the autopsy report suggested physical injuries after which police enquired the staff. The wardens, house master and barber were involved in beating the boy while the superintendent and the assistant superintendent were arrested for dereliction of duty that led to the death of the boy.

The victim is the eldest son of Nirmala. Her husband, Pazhani died of health complications three years ago after which she was taking care of her three children by doing odd jobs.