NEW DELHI, Mar 23: A sessions’ court in Madurai on Monday convicted all the nine accused police personnel for the custodial death of a trader P Jayaraj and his son J Benicks at the Sattankulam Police Station in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.
The Judge G. Muthukumaran of the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai on Monday pronounced the conviction order and added that the quantum of punishment would be announced on March 30.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed its chargesheet in the case on September 25, 2020 and followed it up with a supplementary chargesheet on August 12, 2022. It arraigned as accused the then Sattankulam Inspector S. Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors P. Raghu Ganesh and K. Balakrishnan, head constables S. Murugan and A. Saamidurai, and constables M. Muthuraj, S. Chelladurai, X. Thomas Francis, and S. Veilumuthu. Special Sub-Inspector Pauldurai, an accused in the case, died during trial after contracting COVID-19.
The CBI said Jayaraj and his son Benicks were subjected to brutal torture by the policemen, knowing full well that it was sufficient to cause their deaths. During the investigation it was revealed the traders had not violated COVID-19 lockdown rules, a charge on which the police had detained them. The CBI said the investigation revealed Jayaraj was picked up from his shop near the Kamaraj statue at 7.30 pm on June 19, 2020, and lodged at Sattankulam police station in pursuit of a criminal conspiracy hatched by the accused.
On information, Benicks rushed to the station to inquire about the arrest of his father. He objected to his father being beaten up. Following an altercation, the two were wrongfully confined at the police station and beaten up to “teach them a lesson on how to behave with the police.” The torture continued for several hours throughout the night, the CBI said.
Jayaraj and Benicks were made to clean the blood from their wounds. The next morning, the cleanliness worker of the Sattankulam police station was made to clean the blood on the floor to destroy the evidence. A false case was registered against the two by the policemen, the CBI added.
(Rohit Kumar)
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