MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday sought a response from the CBI on a petition filed by former police inspector SP Ramesh Kumar seeking to quash the supplementary chargesheet filed against him in the case involving the custodial death of a temple guard, B Ajithkumar of Madapuram Badrakali Amman temple in Sivaganga, last year.
According to the prosecution, Ajithkumar was taken into custody by a special team of police in connection with the theft of nine sovereigns of gold jewellery from a college professor on June 27, 2025. He was brutally tortured for two days before being taken to Thiruppuvanam government hospital, where the doctors declared him dead on arrival. The case was transferred to the CBI in July 2025.
Initially, six constables were arrested and later chargesheeted on August 20. While the trial is underway, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet on December 12, 2025, adding four more persons, including Ramesh Kumar, as suspects in the case. The supplementary chargesheet was taken on file and is pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Madurai.
However, Ramesh Kumar alleged that the CBI failed to obtain permission from the jurisdictional magistrate before undertaking further investigation and therefore, the supplementary chargesheet filed through the said investigation was invalid.
He also claimed that there was no direct or circumstantial evidence against him to indicate that he was involved in the alleged illegal detention or torture of the deceased Ajithkumar. He requested the court to quash the supplementary chargesheet.
Justice B Pugalendhi, who heard the plea, issued notice to the CBI and directed them to file a counter-affidavit before April 28.
It could be noted that the high court recently reserved orders on the anticipatory bail petitions filed by Ramesh Kumar and three other suspects in the case.