KOLLAM: The alleged suicide of a youth yesterday at Keralapuram within the Kundara police station limits has turned into a hot political issue.

Manojkumar, 37, of Edavattom G R Buildings, in his suicide note, stated that he was committing suicide because of the physical and mental torture the police had inflicted on him.

Hundreds of dalits on Tuesday staged a march to the Kundara CI office in protest against what they called the police atrocities against the community. The police had taken Manojkumar into custody and interrogated him many times in connection with the ‘murder’ of his neighbour, Thankamma, 50. The woman, belonging to a scheduled caste, was found dead in a pond on March 4.

In the suicide note Manojkumar had said that he and his wife Sreedevi were innocent and told the police everything. ‘‘I can’t any more bear the interrogation of the police, so I am committing suicide’’, according to the note.

KPCC general secretary Kadavur Sivadasan alleged here on Tuesday that the CPM and Kundara MLA were responsible for his death as they were on their attempts to save the real culprits by persecuting the innocent people. The police led by Kundara CI, who is known for his loyalty to the CPM, has unleashed a reign of terror in the name of probing the murder of Thankamma, according to the Congress leader. He urged the Government to suspend the CI and to register a case against him on the basis of the suicide note by Manojkumar.