Nine cops convicted in 2020 Tamil Nadu custodial torture-death case
Nearly six years after the brutal torture-death of a father and son, a Madurai court finds the law-keepers guilty; sentencing is set for March 30
The Madurai District Court on Monday (March 23) pronounced nine policemen guilty in the sensational custodial torture-death case involving a man and his son at Sathankulam Police Station in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu in 2020.
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G Muthukumaran, first additional district and sessions judge, who gave the verdict, said the prosecution has proven its case and held the law-keepers guilty. The quantum of the sentence to the convicted will be pronounced on March 30, he said.
Father, son picked for pandemic ' rule breach'
In the incident that happened on June 19, 2020, P Jayaraj, a 59-year-old mobile phone shop-owner, and his 31-year-old son J Benicks, were taken to the police station for allegedly violating restrictions that were in place then to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. They had arguments in the police station.
The duo died a few days later at Kovilpatti sub-jail, allegedly after brutal police torture. Two first-information reports were registered at the Kovilpatti Police Station in connection with their deaths.
The incident had caused a massive public outrage. The then state government, led by Edappadi K Palaniswami, faced a backlash, while human rights activists also cried foul.
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The nine convicted policemen are then inspector S Sridhar; then sub-inspectors P Ragu Ganesh and K Balakrishnan; then special sub-inspector Pauldurai; then head constables S Murugan and A Samidurai; and constables M Muthuraja, S Veil Muthu, S Chelladurai, and X Thomas Francis.
One accused cop died
One of the accused, special sub-inspector A Pauldurai, died of COVID during the pendency of the case, while nine others, including Sridhar, continued to be in Madurai Central Prison.
The cases involved 105 witnesses, including Jeyaraj’s wife Selvarani, and then Sathankulam police woman head constable R Revathi. As many as 116 documents were marked, which include the judicial inquiry reports on the two men’s deaths.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which took over the case’s investigation from the state in July 2020, initially filed a chargesheet and later a supplementary report, which together were nearly 2,500 pages.
Attempts of the accused to secure bail proved futile.
In July 2025, Sridhar filed a plea before the trial court seeking to turn approver, claiming he would fully disclose the events of the incident. The plea was dismissed shortly thereafter.
Wife of one of the deceased moved court
After the passing of Jeyaraj, Selvarani petitioned the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court for videography of the post-mortem examination. On June 24, 2020, a bench consisting of Justices P N Prakash (who has since retired) and B Pugalendhi took suo motu cognisance of the issue and requested a report from the then superintendent of police in Thoothukudi, indicating that the court would closely oversee the investigation.
On June 30, 2020, the Judicial Magistrate I of Kovilpatti, who conducted an inspection of the station as part of his judicial inquiry, submitted a report to the high court. In it, he expressed concerns regarding potential evidence tampering and a lack of cooperation from police personnel, particularly Maharajan, who reportedly made derogatory comments about him.
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Furthermore, he claimed that the CCTV footage from the station had been intentionally deleted. In response, the high court instructed the Thoothukudi collector to assign revenue officials to safeguard evidence at the Sathankulam police station.
In November last year, observing that almost four and a half years had passed since the trial began, the Madurai Bench of the high court instructed the trial court to finalise the proceedings within a strict timeframe of three months. Eventually, the verdict came.
(With agency inputs)