The convicted police personnel in Sattankulam custodial deaths case being produced earlier than the First Further District and Classes Court docket in Madurai on April 6, 2026.
| Picture Credit score: G. Moorthy
All of the 9 police personnel convicted within the 2020 Sattankulam custodial deaths case, during which dealer P. Jayaraj (58) and his son J. Benicks (31) died in police custody, had been awarded dying sentence by the First Further District and Classes Court docket in Madurai on Monday (April 6, 2026).
EXPLAINED | What’s the Sattankulam father-son custodial torture dying case all about?
On March 23, 2026, the courtroom convicted all 9 police personnel within the case however had mentioned that the quantum of their sentence could be pronounced later.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the counsel representing the household of Jayaraj on Thursday (April 2, 2026) sought most punishment for the 9 policemen convicted by the trial courtroom within the case. The counsels submitted earlier than the First Further District and Classes Court docket in Madurai that the case fell inside the class of the rarest of uncommon instances and most punishment must be awarded to the convicts. “It was a heinous crime and the merchants had been tortured all by means of the night time on the Sattankulam police station,” the counsel identified.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras Excessive Court docket took suo motu cognisance of the crime and handed a slew of instructions. The then AIADMK authorities transferred the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In all, 10 police personnel had been named as accused within the case. Considered one of them died after contracting COVID-19. The CBI has prosecuted 9 police personnel.
The CBI filed a cost sheet on September 25, 2020 and adopted it up with a supplementary cost sheet on August 12, 2022. It arraigned as accused the then Sattankulam inspector, S. Sridhar; sub-inspectors P. Raghu Ganesh and Ok. Balakrishnan; head constables S. Murugan and A. Saamidurai; and constables M. Muthuraj, S. Chelladurai, X. Thomas Francis, and S. Veilumuthu. Particular sub-inspector Pauldurai was additionally an accused. However he died throughout trial after contracting COVID-19.
The CBI mentioned Jayaraj and Benicks had been subjected to brutal torture by the policemen, understanding that it was ample to trigger their dying. Through the investigation, it was revealed the merchants had not violated the COVID-19 lockdown guidelines, a cost on which the police had detained them.
The CBI mentioned the investigation revealed Jayaraj was picked from his store close to the Kamaraj statue at 7.30 p.m. on June 19, 2020, and lodged on the Sattankulam police station in pursuance of a prison conspiracy hatched by the accused. On data, Benicks rushed to the station to inquire concerning the arrest of his father. He objected to his father being overwhelmed up. Following an altercation, the 2 had been wrongfully confined on the police station and overwhelmed as much as “train them a lesson on tips on how to behave with the police”.
The torture continued all by means of the night time. The merchants had been made to wash the blood from their wounds. The subsequent morning, a sanitary employee was made to wash the blood to destroy the proof. A false case was registered towards the 2, the CBI added. Within the supplementary cost sheet, the CBI submitted a report on the examination of video footage out there within the case.
The Madurai Bench took into consideration a girl head constable’s assertion, the medical report, and the judicial Justice of the Peace’s report. It mentioned it had discovered prima facie materials to guide the police personnel concerned within the custodial dying for homicide.
Printed – April 06, 2026 06:17 pm IST
