MADURAI: Rasing a serious allegation against the Sathankulam police, the brother-in-law of one of the victims in the Sathankulam custodial death case, said that the victims -- P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks — were beaten nearly 100 and 250 times respectively before they succumbed to the injuries.
Advocate Rufus, who represents the victims in the Sathankulam case, told Express that Joseph — the brother-in-law of Jeyaraj — stated this before the Madurai District Court on Tuesday.
According to Rufus, Joseph told the court that Jeyaraj spoke to him during the medical checkup conducted before the father-son duo was produced at the magistrate court for remand. “During that exchange, Jeyaraj reportedly told Joseph that he was hit nearly 100 times, while his son Beniks was also beaten at least 250 times using lathi and other weapons,” said Rufus.
During the cross-examination by the Court, Joseph was asked as to why he did not lodge a complaint immediately if he had really heard that the police as a fearing as they feared that the victims’ safety would be put to risk,” Rufus added. Recording Joseph’s statement, Additional District Judge I, V Padmanabhan adjourned the trial to Saturday.