Mandya: The Department of Criminal Investigation (CID) will investigate the alleged death of sandalwood thieves, whose body was found in the canal eight days after he was detained by forest officials.
Ravi’s body, a resident of Krishnapura Village, was found in the canal near the Hunaganalli colony, 20 km from here.
The victim’s hand was allegedly tied with a piece of cloth, and the body was discovered by the Department of Irrigation staff.
According to the police, the victim and accompanied by his hands, the subrames allegedly entered the forest in the Hassan district and had cut sandalwood trees.
The Forest Officer Team, who patrolled the area, allegedly arrested them on October 8.
But he reportedly managed to escape when they were looking for motorbikes they hid in the field of sugar cane before committing a crime.
Then, forest officers submitted a case at the Chanarayapatna police station under Section 224 (resistance to legitimate understanding) IPC.
They registered complaints on October 14 on the body of the victim’s body found in the canal, and this raised speculation that Ravi was tortured to death by forest officers.
Mandya SP Ashwini said because there was an accusation of the death of the Custodian, this case was handed over to CID for further investigation according to the rules.