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The curious case of Sreejeev’s death is finally being probed into by the CBI. Sreejeev’s custodial death still remains a mystery to us. Thanks to his brother Sreejith, now he might finally rest in peace. Sreejith has been protesting at Thiruvananthapuram for more than 770 days. The problem with our country is that justice takes its own sweet time while families bear the brunt, their questions unanswered.
Who was Sreejeev?
Sreejeev, aged 26 died in police custody in 2014. The police’s version states that the victim had consumed a pesticide resulting in his death. While this doesn’t tell us much, it is still peculiar, and abrupt. This could be a case of suicide, but everything doesn’t add up. Sreejeev was arrested for stealing a mobile phone from police records. But, his family insists that he was killed. He happened to be in love with a woman who is related to one of the police officers. He died curiously one day before his lover’s marriage to someone else. Sreejeev passed away at the hospital and the cause of death, remained, “suicide”.
Sreejith’s Cause
After his brother’s sudden death, Sreejith began his campaign, he had visited the hospital before his brother died, only to be prevented by the police from talking to him. A protest over 770 days is no joke, but he caught the eye of human activists and social media. Since then there was no looking back. Finally, the Kerala high court pushed the CBI to investigate the matter. The CBI has now taken over the case. Hopefully, this gives some comfort to Sreejith who has been fighting a long battle for his brother.
The CBI has filed an FIR and has reported Sreejeev’s death as unnatural under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Sreejith will end his protest once there is more clarity on the issue. In 2016, the police furnished a death note supposedly penned by Sreejeev. Mr. Kurup the high court judge in 2016, then suggested that Sreejeev could have been a victim of custodial torture. Sreejeev is only one of the many who die in police custody every year. What his brother did instead of staying silent was to question law and order not only in Kerala but the country itself.