A local court in Madurai has found all nine accused policemen guilty in the 2020 Sathankulam custodial deaths case, where a father and son died following alleged torture.
A total of five policemen have been arrested so far in connection to the incident.
The CBI office cum quarters at Athikulam here, where the investigation was held and four officers from Delhi were staying, has been sealed and disinfected.
Bennicks and Jeyaraj died on June 22 and 23 respectively at a government hospital after being rushed from a prison in Kovilpatti town following complaints of health issues.
Mentioning Head Contable Revathy's statement in a four-page report to the Madras high court Madurai Bench, the Judicial Magistrate probing the deaths said she feared receiving threat if she revealed the facts.
The Superintendent of Police of Tuticorin, where a father-son duo died after being allegedly thrashed by the police last week, was on Tuesday shunted out of the district and placed under "compulsory wait" by the Tamil Nadu government.
'An international survey has shown that India figures high in the list of countries on people's approval of torture.' 'What is surprising is that even if you look at the many vibrant social movements we've had, there's been no campaign that predominantly focuses on police torture.'
The murder charges capped dramatic developments both in the court and outside where a woman head constable witness to the happenings told a Magisterial probe that the two traders were thrashed an entire night by the other police personnel at Sathankulam station where they were detained over alleged lockdown violations late last month.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has charge-sheeted nine Tamil Nadu policemen for murder, conspiracy and other offences in the custodial death case of the father-son duo who were arrested on a 'fake' charge of violating the lockdown and tortured in Sathankulam police station in June this year, officials said on Saturday.
P Jayaraj and his son Fennix, arrested for 'violating' lockdown norms over business hours of their cellphone shop, died at a hospital in Kovilpatti on June 23.
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