(COLOMBO) – Four policemen serving in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province have been arrested in connection with the alleged cell death of an inmate, police said on Saturday.
The four attached to the Vaddukoddai Police Station in Jaffna, a little over 400 kilometres north of the commercial capital Colombo were arrested following growing protests over the death that occurred in mid November, officers close to the investigation said.
They added the arrests were made according to service discipline requirements.
Nagarasa Alex 25 from Kalavani Sithankerny in the Jaffna Peninsula died from severe damages to internal organs including both his kidneys, a medical autopsy later revealed.
The four policemen were attached to the Vaddukoddai Police Station where the deceased was held for nearly four days on a court detention order.
The victim was taken along with another person for suspected theft on November 8.
Relatives later took the matter up with the regional Human Rights Council and related agencies that finally led to the arrest of the four policemen.
Earlier they had been transferred pending a disciplinary inquiry.
The incident also led to tension in the pre-dominantly ethnic Tamil dominated region and the military was called into restore calm and order.
