With a total of 21 police officers now charged for the torture and murder of Montford resident, Reagan Naidoo, who died in police custody in August 2018, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate’s spokesperson, Grace Langa, has confirmed that the number of arrests have been increasing due to information surfacing following the arrests.
Amid the release of IPID’s Annual Report 2020/2021, with KZN’s figures stipulating that a total of 33 deaths occurred in police custody, while 104 deaths as a result of police action were being investigated, Naidoo’s father, Timothy Naidoo, relentless in his quest for justice, said he was glad that justice is finally unfolding before his eyes and encouraged Chatsworth residents to stand up and help root out corruption within the police. Naidoo expressed his satisfaction with the criminal justice system following the appearance of the last three police officers, Rajan Sanders, 47, Riyadh Adam, 39, and Devendra Chetty, 49, who were charged for torture, attempted murder, murder, kidnapping and defeating the administration of justice for his son’s 2018 murder, on Friday, 1 October. “I feel happy because there is closure in this case. I know that justice will be served. I believe that right now, the biggest obstacle in the Chatsworth community is fear. We should not fear police officers, but we should respect the law and respect that they are sworn to uphold the law. If we take away fear of reporting corruption within the police we will be overcoming a great obstacle as corruption will be rooted out and justice will be upheld. We, as parents and as a community, should not be allowing corruption due to fear. We should come together as one and beat police corruption,” he said. On Monday, 27 September, the first nine officers, Malcolm Naicker, 39, Ugeshan Govender, 39, Proshen Lutchman, 30, Cedric Ian Pillay, 35, Xolani Quinton Sosibo, 35, Kubendran Kisten, 39, Christopher Kistan, 50, Indrin Maistry, 36, and Brian Naidoo, 53, were arrested.
Another nine officers, Eric Morjane, 44, Mlamhli Ntutuka, 39, Andries Botes, 46, Ralph Ogle, 43, Eric Karsen, 39, Muhammed Raoof, 52, Pushpanthan Pillay, 48, Sihle Ngidi, 39, and Trevor Chetty, 44, were arrested on Tuesday, 28 September. All 21 suspects were released on bail of R3 000 and will reappear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on 29 October. Langa said the number increases because as they keep arresting, more information comes out and some approach the investigator to come clean and tell what they know so this is what is happening. “The number of arrests have been increasing because as we keep arresting, more information comes out and some approach the investigating officer to come clean and tell what they know. More arrested are expected to happen and they will all appear together in court soon,” said Langa. IPID’s annual report further indicates that 10 cases of rape by a police official, 85 cases of torture, 388 cases of assault and 13 cases of corruption were reported in KZN, while a total of 6 122 cases had been reported to them in the last year across the country.
