A former Thai police chief who was jailed for all times three years in the past for torturing a drug suspect to loss of life has been discovered useless in his Bangkok jail cell, authorities stated.
Thitisan Utthanaphon, who was nicknamed Joe Ferrari for his many luxurious automobiles, died by suicide, in line with a preliminary post-mortem.
In 2021, a leaked video confirmed Thitisan and his colleagues wrapping plastic baggage across the head of a 24-year-old drug suspect throughout an interrogation, resulting in the suspect’s loss of life.
The video sparked nationwide outrage at the moment over police brutality in Thailand. It has made contemporary rounds on social media within the wake of Thitisant’s loss of life.
Thailand’s justice ministry has launched an investigation into his loss of life after his household expressed doubts that he killed himself. Additional exams had been wanted to substantiate that he had certainly died in a suicide, authorities stated.
Justice minister Tawee Sodsong stated on Monday that each one proof associated to Thitisant’s loss of life ought to be disclosed, and urged jail authorities to cooperate with investigators.
The household stated Thitisant was beforehand assaulted by a jail staffer. They stated officers didn’t enable them to see his physique, which was present in his cell on Friday.
However on Sunday authorities stated “no jail officer or inmate has harmed or prompted [his] loss of life”.
A earlier raid on Thitisant’s home revealed that he owned a dozen luxurious sportscars. Authorities consider he owned no less than 42, one among them a uncommon Lamborghini Aventador Anniversario, of which solely 100 had been made, priced in Thailand at 47 million baht ($1.45m; £1.05m).
As a police colonel, Thitisant was paid about $1,000 a month.
There have been allegations that he demanded bribes from the suspect within the viral video, Jirapong Thanapat, whereas suffocating him. Thitisant denied this.
Thitisant surrendered in 2021 following a manhunt.
In addition to Thitisant, 5 different law enforcement officials had been convicted of murdering Jirapong and had been additionally sentenced to life in jail in 2022.
“It is like he has paid off the karma he dedicated,” Jirapong’s father stated in an interview on native media on Saturday.
The Division of Corrections stated that they had been investigating a earlier grievance filed by Thitisant’s household alleging that he had been bullied and assaulted by jail officers earlier this 12 months.
Thitisant had consulted medical doctors over nervousness points and bother sleeping, the division stated.
His household visited him on the day that he died and jail employees didn’t discover any “abnormalities”, it stated.
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