3 excise officials held for man's death in custody

Police have arrested three officials from the excise department in Kerala. The arrest has been conducted in connection with the death of a man who was in custody for allegedly possessing ganja.

Thrissur:Three officials of the excise department were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the death of a man, who was taken into custody by the department for allegedly possessing ganja, police said.

"We are in search of four more accused in the case," a senior police official said.

Ranjith Kumar (35) of Malappuram was being taken to a police station on October 1 when he showed symptoms of seizure and died on the way to a hospital. But, a postmortem report revealed he had multiple internal injuries, the police said.

A case of unnatural death was registered and later homicide charges were levelled against the excise officials, they said.

Kumar was a history-sheeter with many 'ganja' (cannabis) cases registered against him, the police said.

Most of the cases were for allegedly selling and distributing the narcotic among schoolchildren, they added.

Meanwhile, opposition Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has sought a judicial probe into Kumar's death.

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