Sathankulam father-son custodial death case: CBI files 400-page supplementary chargesheet

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a 400-page supplementary chargesheet in 2020 Sathankulam custodial death case in the Madurai district court on Friday, August 12.

The chargesheet was submitted before the Additional District Judge of Madurai, N Nagalakshmi, copies of which were served to all nine accused.

The agency also furnished postmortem CD to accused P Raghu Ganesh and others, based on the orders passed by the Madras High Court in a revision petition alleging non-furnishing of certain documents. The trial has been adjourned to August 18.

Earlier, the court examined a nodal officer of a telecom company and studied the call details of the deceased.

Sathankulam custodial death case

The case pertains to the death of a father-son duo, P Jeyaraj and Beniks, after they were allegedly beaten by Sathankulam police while in custody in June 2020.

About nine months after the incident, the CBI filed a charge sheet naming nine policemen including an inspector and the trial is underway. 

The policemen have been accused of destruction of evidence in the alleged torture and murder of Benniks and RP Jeyaraj, who ran a mobile phone shop in the Thoothukudi district. The ghastly crime had triggered a massive outrage prompting then chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami to seek a CBI probe in the matter.

After conducting an investigation for almost two years, the supplementary charge sheet was filed on Friday.