Chennai custodial death: Police offered Rs 1 lakh bribe to stay silent, alleges victim's brother

Almost a week after 25-year old V Vignesh allegedly died in police custody at a police station in Tamil Nadu's Chennai, his brother on Saturday accused the police of offering a bribe of Rs 1 lakh to his family to keep mum over the death.

He further alleged that the police did not allow his family to see the body after the autopsy.

"The police offered me Rs 1 lakh (1,00,000) to stay silent on the case. There were wounds on my brother's body. We were not allowed to see his body after the autopsy," said Vinod, Vignesh's brother.

"Our house owner was threatened by police to make us vacate the premises," he added.

V Vignesh died on April 19, after he and his friend were arrested for possessing drugs near the Kellys area of the city.

Vignesh's case was transferred to Crime Branch, Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) on Tuesday, when the Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Saravanan was leading the investigation.

However, the family alleged that no steps were taken in the probe and nobody is ready to speak up on the issue.

The family of the deceased put forth a number of demands, wherein, they have asked for a witness protection scheme and CCTV footage of April 19 from the Patinambakkam, Ainavaram, and G5 police station in Tamil Nadu.

The family's demand for CCTV footage came in view of Justice Rohinton that mandated the fixation of cameras in all the police stations of the state.

(ANI)