The Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against nine police officers from Tamil Nadu, including the then-SHO officer from Sathankulam Police Station in Thoothukudi, for allegedly detaining and illegally torturing P Jayaraj and J Bennicks throughout the June night. The men died in the hospital.
The charge sheet names the former SHO of the Sathankulam Police Station S Sridhar, two Sub-Inspectors K Balakrishnan and P Raghuganesh, two Police Officers S Murugan and A Samadurai, and four Police Officers M Muthuraja, S Chelladurai, X Thomas Francis and Veyil Muthu for criminal conspiracy, murder, wrongful confinement, destruction of evidence and the leveling of false charges. All nine are currently in jail. Deputy Inspector Pauldurai, whom the agency arrested in July and who died in jail due to Covid-19, has not been charged on the charge sheet, but his role has been mentioned in the alleged conspiracy, authorities said.
P Jayaraj (59) and his son J Bennicks (31) were arrested on June 19 and held in the Kovilpatti sub-prison for keeping open their mobile phone shop in the main market of Sathankulam city during a curfew imposed during the period induced by Covid-19. emergency shutdown.
The father and son were allegedly tortured during police custody, after which they were admitted to the Kovilpatti government hospital on June 22. As Bennicks died that same night, Jayaraj breathed his last on the morning of June 23.
The incident sparked massive public outrage across the country with the demand for action against the accused police officers. The Tamil Nadu government ordered a CBI investigation in the first week of July, after which a special team was dispatched to investigate the death of the custodian.
CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said: “A CBI team camped out in Madurai and worked tirelessly during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
In fact, nine CBI officers were infected with Covid-19 while investigating the case.
Sharing details of the charge sheet, Gaur said: “The investigation revealed that the father-son duo were arrested on June 19, 2020 and tortured at the Sathankulam Police Station by the defendant in the night and the night in between, as a consequence both succumbed to their wounds and died in the middle night of June 22 and 23 ”.
The officials who did not want to be identified added that officials from the Sathankulam police station, “to cover up their misdeeds, they not only destroyed evidence of torture but also registered false cases against the deceased on accusations that father and son did not they had closed their mobile store even after the allotted time and therefore it violated the general prohibition orders. “
This officer added that the role of others in the deaths, as well as the subsequent cover-up, is being further investigated.
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