MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday reserved orders on a bail petition filed by S Sridhar (58) -- suspended police inspector who was arrested in the Sathankulam custodial death case.
Sridhar, who was working as the station house officer of Sathankulam police station in Thoothukudi, was arrested in July 2020 in connection with the brutal assault on 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 a month later due to Covid-19. The trial is underway in the Additional District and Sessions Court-I, Madurai.
However, Sridhar denied the allegations and claimed that he was not present at the spot when the incident occurred. Saying that he has been incarcerated for five years and suffers from age-related ailments, he requested the court to grant him bail.
When the case came up for hearing before Justice P Vadamalai on Tuesday, the special public prosecutor for the CBI expressed objections and informed the court that Sridhar had so far cross-examined 51 witnesses in the case, and was now cross-examining the investigation officer.
Meanwhile, the counsel appearing for Sridhar requested the court to grant him a three-month interim bail to prepare necessary documents for the case hearing. Hearing both sides, the judge reserved his orders.