Judgement in Sathankulam custodial deaths case on March 23

Madurai: The first additional district and sessions court in Madurai is set to pronounce judgement on March 23 in the case pertaining to the custodial deaths of P Jeyaraj and his son, J Beniks, reported in Sathankulam in Tuticorin district in 2020.Judge G Muthukumaran posted the case for judgement on March 23.On June 19, 2020, the father-son duo was picked up by the Sathankulam police. They were brutally assaulted by the police at the station that night and lodged in the Kovilpatti sub-jail the next day. Beniks succumbed to injuries on June 22, 2020, while his father died the next morning.Ten policemen (presently suspended), including inspector Sridhar, SIs Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh, head constables Murugan and A Samadurai, and constables M Muthuraja, S Chelladurai, X Thomas Francis, S Vailmuthu, and SSI Paldurai, were arrested. They were lodged at Madurai Central Prison. Paldurai died of Covid-19. The CBI, after completing the investigation, filed the chargesheet against nine policemen on September 25, 2020. The CBI also filed a supplementary chargesheet on August 12, 2022.It may be recalled that the CBI said that since Jeyaraj was detained at the police station, Beniks went there asking for the reason for his detention. As a scuffle ensued between him and the policemen, Sridhar intervened and asked the other policemen to teach Beniks a lesson on "how to behave with police". The two of them were subjected to several rounds of torture, and their clothes were removed to add brutality to their torture.This apart, Sridhar also asked the sweeper to clean the floor of the main hall and other places at the police station the next morning to destroy the evidence. Blood-stained clothes were changed twice before taking them to the hospital, and their clothes were changed at the hospital before taking them for remand. All these clothes were dumped in the hospital dustbin to destroy the evidence. It was also revealed that Jeyaraj and Beniks did not violate the lockdown norms, and there was no altercation between them and the police officials at Kamarajar Salai in Sathankulam on the evening of June 19. Investigation revealed that a false case was registered against them, the CBI said.