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The First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai is set to deliver its verdict on Monday in the custodial death case of P Jeyaraj and his son J Beniks, which occurred in Sathankulam of Thoothukudi district in 2020. The case has been posted for judgment by Judge G Muthukumaran.
On June 19, 2020, the father and son were taken into custody by Sathankulam police. They were allegedly subjected to brutal assault at the police station that night and were later remanded to the Kovilpatti sub-jail. Beniks died of injuries on June 22, while Jeyaraj succumbed the following day. A total of ten policemen, including Inspector Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh, along with other personnel, were arrested in connection with the case and lodged in Madurai Central Prison. One of the accused, Paldurai, later died due to COVID-19. The CBI filed its primary chargesheet against nine policemen on September 25, 2020, followed by a supplementary chargesheet on August 12, 2022. According to the CBI investigation, Beniks had gone to the police station questioning his father's detention, which led to a confrontation. It is alleged that Inspector Sridhar instructed other policemen to "teach him a lesson", following which both were subjected to repeated custodial torture. The probe further revealed attempts to destroy evidence, including cleaning bloodstains at the station and disposing of blood-stained clothes after changing them multiple times. The CBI also stated that the victims had not violated lockdown norms and that a false case had been registered against them. The father-son duo was arrested on June 19 and was lodged in the Kovilpatti sub-jail for keeping their mobile shop open during a curfew imposed amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Jayaraju and Benicks were admitted to the Kovilpatti government hospital on June 22, 2020. While the son died on the same night, the father breathed his last on the morning of June 23. The CBI was handed over the case on July 7, 2020. The Centre had earlier accepted the Tamil Nadu government's request to transfer the case to the probe agency. The case was previously registered at the Kovilpatti East Police Station in the Thoothukudi district. (ANI)
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