Prisoner Sabari Varman dies in Nagercoil district jail, kin demand probe

Close on the heels of the arrest of three prison staff, the Kanniyakumari district police have taken into custody eight inmates of the Kanniyakumari district jail in Nagercoil in connection with the death of 35-year-old remand prisoner S. Sabari Varman in the early hours of Monday (July 13, 2026). With the post mortem report revealing injuries on his body, the police have alerted the case of suspicious death to that of murder. However, the motive for the murder was still being probed.

According to police, Sabari Varman, a differently-abled man of Ethankadu was arrested by the police on Thursday (July 9) for selling banned tobacco products. A case was registered against him at South Thamaraikulam police station, following which he was remanded in judicial custody at the district jail in Nagercoil on the same day.

Police added that he was found unconscious at his cell in the early hours of Monday and was taken to Kanniyakumari Government Medical College and Hospital (KKGMCH) in Asaripallam, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.