Jeyaraj and Benniks were arrested for keeping their mobile phone shop open 15 minutes after curfew.
Chennai:
In the death in custody of a man and his son in Tamil Nadu in June, the CBI says it has been established that the two were tortured for more than six hours by police officers. They were beaten so badly that blood spilled on the walls of the police station, according to forensic evidence.
Jeyaraj and his son Benniks were arrested on June 19 for keeping their mobile phone shop open 15 minutes after curfew. After Jeyaraj was taken away by the police, they also arrested her son, who arrived at the police station.
The CBI charge sheet says the two were subjected to “several rounds of brutal torture with intervals between 7.45 pm and 3 am”.
The blunt injuries resulted in Benniks’ death, according to the post-mortem report.
The police officers forced Benniks to wipe the bloodstains at the station with his vest.
The CBI has also said that a bogus FIR was registered against Benniks and Jeyaraj to cover up the crime. Investigations have revealed that the two did not violate lockdown guidelines.
Police destroyed the evidence and the bloodstained clothes of the father and son were thrown into a garbage can at a government hospital, the CBI says on its charge sheet.
The policemen used sticks to torture the two men. His blood spread across the walls of the Santhankulam Police Station, which was detected by forensic teams.
“The fact that Benniks and Jeyaraj were subjected to brutal torture by the accused police officers on the night of June 19, 2020 and the intervening night of June 19-20 at the Santhankulam police station, is established “said the CBI.
The two died of their injuries on June 22, within hours of each other.
There were no CCTV footage from the day they were allegedly beaten. The magistrate told the court that the police station’s security cameras were programmed to automatically delete images every day, although there is sufficient storage space on the system’s hard drive.
The torture and killings fueled shock and rage across the country and triggered a campaign of action against the police officers involved.
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