In a major move into probing the horrific incident of custodial torture committed by Balveer Singh IPS in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district, the MK Stalin administration has on Friday announced that senior IAS officer P Amudha has been tasked to investigate the allegations of such tortures that sparked public fury across the state. 

Balveer Singh was suspended after the incident came to light. He was serving as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Ambasamudram zone and during his service, he has been accused of tormenting and beating up the people in the Ambasamudram police station. As the incident triggered an uproar, Balveer Singh was suspended on March 29 and eight other officers connected in the custodial torture were transferred to the Armed Forces. 

Initially, the probe into the incident was conducted by Cheranmahadevi Sub-Collector, based on the order from Tirunelveli Collector KP Karthikeyan. Following the initial report, Karthikeyan has recommended a high-level probe to the state government after which the government has now tasked senior IAS officer Amudha to probe the incident and submit a report in one month. 

As a well-renowned public administrator, Amudha IAS has previously served as an Additional Secretary in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office before taking up the role as the Principal Secretary of the Tamil Nadu government for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department. Being known for her able and outright leadership, Amudha's task to probe the custodial torture has come at a high time when the government was facing criticisms over its inaction. 

The custodial torture came to light on March 26 when three men came out and shared how they were tortured by Balveer Singh in a video that later went viral on social media, drawing the government's immediate intervention. In the video, the men said that they were taken to the Ambasamudram police station and were beaten up and their teeth were broken by ASP Balveer Singh. 

It is pertinent to note that on March 28, the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission has taken suo-motu cognisance of the case based on media reports and decided to probe the matter. Addressing an assembly session, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin officially said that Balveer Singh has been suspended. Recently, it came to light that Balveer Singh had tortured more people, including minors.