More than three months after Akash Delison, 26, died following alleged custodial torture by the police, his family on Monday (June 15, 2026) refused to receive his body from the mortuary of the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, despite a 5 p.m. deadline set by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.

Earlier in the day, Justice L. Victoria Gowri directed A. Rajeshkannan, the father of the deceased who belonged to the Scheduled Caste, to receive the body by 5 p.m., adding that otherwise, the State would be directed to take steps to dispose of it. The judge posted the matter for compliance to June 16.

Delison, who was allegedly tortured in custody at Manamadurai in Sivaganga district, died while undergoing treatment at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai on March 8. His family refused to accept his body, demanding the arrest of all the policemen involved in the incident.

Recently, the court disposed of Mr. Rajeshkannan’s petition for a direction to the government to register a criminal case for the murder, arising out of the alleged custodial torture, under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with the relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The court directed the CB-CID to expeditiously conclude the investigation and file the final report before the jurisdictional court. It also appreciated Manamadurai Judicial Magistrate M. Afzal Fathima, whose remand proceedings ensured the preservation of a crucial contemporaneous account that now forms part of the investigative record.

The remand report revealed that, instead of mechanically authorising judicial custody, the Judicial Magistrate visited the Government Sivaganga Medical College and Hospital, identified Delison, an accused in an assault case, through the duty doctor, interacted with him, noticed the injury to his right leg, elicited from him the circumstances that led to the injury, and recorded the allegations made by him about custodial torture and ill-treatment, the court said.

The Judicial Magistrate also recorded Delison’s explanation for the scratches found on his body, and noted the complaint of torture made against police personnel, the court said.

Delison and his acquaintance Guna were picked up in an assault case on March 5. While the police said Delison suffered a leg fracture while trying to escape, his family said he was subjected to custodial torture. He was taken to the Government Hospital at Manamadurai, the Government Sivaganga Medical College and Hospital, and the Government Rajaji Hospital.

Former Minister for Electricity and DMK Coimbatore South MLA V. Senthilbalaji on Thursday (May 4) said the power outage and shortage prevalent in the State has to be resolved on a war-footing.

Interacting with journalists after the inauguration of his constituency office on Huzur Road, he said that during the tenure of the previous DMK-led government, the State never had any power outage and or scarcity.

Claiming that the ruling TVK was now floating a theory that government servants were pro-Opposition, he said governments might change but the bureaucrats would not. If the TVK said there were black sheep in the official machinery, what about the rest of the bureaucracy, he asked.

The TVK could ask for time to implement whatever was promised in its election manifesto, but law and order maintenance cannot be given time. He reminded the ruling party that it was on the verge of losing whatever public confidence it had. He said a popular criticism now was that the TVK came to power through “reels” but was failing to give a real governance.

The Tamil Nadu government on Friday appointed senior IPS officer  Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal as the Director-General of Police and Head of the Police Force.

The 1994-Batch IPS officer is serving as the DGP in the Border Security Force (BSF), Delhi. He replaces DGP/HoPF Sandeep Rai Rathore. He was in the panel of three IPS officers recommended by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) as fit for appointment to the top post. The Tamil Nadu government has written to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to relieve Dr. Aggarwal from the BSF, official sources said.

In accordance with the Supreme Court guidelines in the Prakash Singh case, Dr. Aggarwal will have a minimum tenure of two years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served as the Commissioner of Police, Chennai, where he launched various schemes, including Drive Against Drugs and ‘Kaaval Karangal’. He was also the Commissioner of Police in Madurai and Tirunelveli. Dr. Aggarwal was the State Police Nodal Officer of the Election Commission of India in the last Lok Sabha elections and Member-Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Police Commission.

Communal murders

As the Inspector-General of Police in the Crime Branch-CID, he supervised the probe conducted by the Special Investigation Division into a series of communal murders across the State and also the sensational train heist in which a north Indian gang broke into the coach of Salem-Chennai Express and took way ₹5.78 crore belonging to the Reserve Bank of India.

In his previous stint at the Centre, he worked in the Central Bureau of Investigation as its Joint Director in Chandigarh.

In the BSF, he served as the Commander, Eastern Command, responsible for more than 4,000 km of the challenging India-Bangladesh Border. Dr Aggarwal is the recipient of the President Police Medal for Distinguished Service and Police Medal for Meritorious Service. He is a native of Bathinda in Punjab, and got his doctorate from  Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.

Inordinate delay

A regular DGP/HoPF should have been appointed with effect from September 1, 2025, in place of the then incumbent, Shankar Jiwal, who attained superannuation. However, the process was delayed for various reasons, including a couple of contempt cases.