3 excise officials held for man's death in custody

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 told PTI.

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.