00:07This is the family of 35-year-old disabled shopkeeper Sabri Varman from Tamil Nadu's Nagar Koyal.
00:12They want to know how did he die while being in police custody.
00:16On July 9th, Sabri Varman was arrested for allegedly selling banned tobacco products.
00:21The same day, a Nagar Koyal court remanded him to judicial custody.
00:25Just two days later, on July 11th, he was found dead inside the prison.
00:28Then came the post-mortem report.
00:30It documented 19 injuries across his body, including his elbows, forearms, knees and legs.
00:37Sabri Varman's death soon snowballed into political debate.
00:40Opposition parties targeted the police and the state government over the handling of the case.
00:44As the investigation progressed, 11 people were arrested in connection with Sabri Varman's custodial death.
00:50The incident joins a growing list of custodial deaths in Tamil Nadu.
00:53According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the state recorded 490 custodial deaths between 2016 and 2022.
01:00Yet, data tabled in the Lok Sabha in March 2026 showed that only one case of disciplinary action was reported
01:06in connection with custodial deaths during five years in March 2026.
01:10Meanwhile, BJP chief spokesperson Narayanan Thirupati cited national data claiming that deaths in judicial custody far outnumber those in police
01:19lockups because of overcrowding poor supervision and a lack of accountability in prisons.
01:23For Sabri Varman's family, however, the statistics mean little.
01:27They're still waiting for one answer.
01:29How did he die in custody?
01:30How did he die in custody?
01:32How did he die in custody?
01:32How did he die in custody?
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