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.
'CBI investigation revealed that the father-son duo was arrested in the evening of June 19, 2020, and allegedly tortured at the Sathankulam Police Station by the accused in the evening as well as in the intervening night, consequent to which both of them succumbed to the injuries and died in the intervening night of June 22 and 23'
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.
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.
A total of five policemen have been arrested so far in connection to the incident.
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.
The CBI has dispatched a special team to conduct the probe in which several Tamil Nadu Police personnel are under the scanner and some have already been arrested by the state police, they said.
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.
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.
ASP Balveer Singh, IPS, is accused of torturing 5 people in custody.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday asserted that not even a "speck of dust" fell on state Governor R N Ravi during a black flag protest against him in Mayiladuthurai and said the opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's attempts to "do politics" over the matter will not fructify "as this is DMK rule."
What really happened in Sathankulam, where the father-son duo of Jayaraj and Beniks died in an alleged case of police brutality, a case that has shocked India?
CBI officer V K Shukla, who is probing the death of Jharkhand Judge Uttam Anand, is among 15 officers of the agency awarded the 'Union Home Minister's Medal for Excellence in Investigation' for the year 2021, officials said Thursday.
'I have many times bought meals for the accused, and the police pay for it.'
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