The Kerala High Court on Wednesday acquitted and set aside the death sentence awarded to two police officers, K Jithakumar and SV Sreekumar, by a CBI court in 2018 in the Udayakumar custodial death case [State of Kerala v. Jithakumar K and connected cases].

A Division Bench of Justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar also set aside the conviction and three-year imprisonment awarded to three other police officers - TK Haridas, T Ajith Kumar, and EK Sabu.

The case concerned the custodial death of a 26-year-old man named Udayakumar.

The prosecution's case was that in 2005, Jithakumar and Sreekumar apprehended Udayakumar from a park along with a history-sheeter and recovered ₹4,000 from them. Suspecting it was stolen money, the cops allegedly tortured Udayakumar at the Fort police station in Thiruvananthapuram, which eventually led to the young man's death.

The post-mortem reportedly revealed that Udayakumar had over 40 injuries on his thighs and lower abdomen.

The CBI took over the investigation in 2008, after Udayakumar's mother moved the High Court with a plea alleging that the State police were delaying the probe, for obvious reasons.

Thirteen years after Udayakumar's death, in 2018, the CBI special court in Thiruvananthapuram convicted five police officers. The CBI court awarded capital punishment to Jithakumar and Sreekumar, finding them guilty of the murder. The three others were found guilty of conspiracy and destruction of evidence and sentenced to three years of imprisonment.

All five later moved the High Court, challenging the judgment of the CBI court.

These appeals were allowed by the Division Bench today.

Sreekumar, who was awarded the death sentence, passed away during the pendency of the appeals.