TN Custodial Deaths Case: CBI Files Chargesheet Against Nine Cops
The police personnel were arrested during investigation and are presently in judicial custody.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against nine police officials in connection with the custodial deaths of the father-son duo Jayaraj and Bennix. The trader duo died after alleged torture by police personnel in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu in June of this year.
The police personnel were arrested during investigation and are presently in judicial custody, except for Special Sub Inspector (SSI) Pauldurai, one of the accused who was also arrested in connection with the case but died of COVID-19 on 10 August.
The chargesheet has been filed under sections 120-B of IPC r/w sections 302, 342, 201, 182, 193, 211, 218 and 34 and substantive offences thereof in the Designated Court at Madurai, Tamil Nadu, the official CBI press release read.
The CBI had earlier filed two FIRs in the matter on 7 July and taken over the case on 8 July, following a Tamil Nadu government order on 29 June which transferred the custodial death case to the central body.
Father-Son Duo Tortured, Says CBI
The CBI further stated that its investigation revealed that the father-son duo were arrested in the evening of 19 June and tortured at the Sathankulam Police Station by the accused in the evening as well as in the intervening night, consequent to which, both of them succumbed to the injuries and died in the intervening night of 22 and 23 June.
On 19 June, P Jayaraj and his son J Bennix were arrested by the police for allegedly keeping their shop open after the stated lockdown hours and were allegedly assaulted by the policemen and a few volunteers from the Friends of Police (FoP) organisation. Following the arrest, the duo was remanded to judicial custody in the Kovilpatti sub-jail, where Bennix died on 22 June and Jayaraj died on 23 June.
The custodial death of the two men in Tamil Nadu’s Sathankulam had sparked massive outrage over police brutality.
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