Suspicious withdrawal of custodial death plea: HC seeks counter

The judges observed that Muthukaruppan had filed a petition seeking justice for his son.

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Saturday sought counter affidavits on the suo motu proceedings initiated over the suspicious withdrawal of the custodial death case of a 22-year-old man. A division bench of Justices TS Sivagnanam and S Ananthi sought counter affidavits from the victim’s father, Muthukaruppan, who withdrew the petition, and four more persons Athi Narayanan, Kathir, Ramesh and Yoganathan- who allegedly coerced him to withdraw the petition. 

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However, he changed his advocate and withdrew the petition a month later.  Advocate Henri Tiphagne, who had previously argued for Muthukaruppan, sent a letter to the court alleging that Muthukaruppan was threatened into withdrawing the case by the relatives of the policemen responsible for his son’s death. The court took suo motu cognisance of the letter in 2020.