MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday sought a reply from the CBI on the time needed to complete the trial in Sathankulam custodial death case. Justice G Ilangovan gave the direction while hearing the bail petition filed by S Sridhar, who is one of the key accused in the case.
Sridhar, who was working as the station house officer at Sathankulam police station in Thoothukudi, was arrested in July 2020 for the brutal assault of two traders- P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks-- in police custody. Nine other policemen from the station were also arrested in the case but one of them died due to Covid-19, a month later. The trial is underway.
However, citing his continued incarceration for nearly three years and the delay in completion of the trial, Sridhar sought bail. “So far, 47 witnesses, including two star witnesses, have been examined out of 132 total witnesses in the case. This itself has taken almost three years to complete and examining the rest of the witnesses may take at least five more years,” he said in the petition.
When the case was heard on Monday, the special public prosecutor for CBI sought additional time to file a counter affidavit. But noting that the trial has been pending for more than two years, Justice Ilangovan observed that the delay would benefit neither the accused nor the victim.