MADURAI: The Madurai District Court has issued a non-bailable warrant against suspended Manamadurai DSP N Shanmugasundaram, who is one of the accused in the case involving the custodial death of B Ajithkumar, a temple guard of Madapuram Badrakali Amman temple in Sivaganga.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Madurai S Assan Mohamed issued the warrant on Wednesday after noting that Shanmugasundaram repeatedly failed to appear before the court despite summons. He also dismissed a petition filed by Shanmugasundaram through his counsel seeking to dispense with his appearance.
When the case was heard again on Thursday, Chief Judicial Magistrate K Selvapandi recorded that the ex-DSP was once again absent. Further noting that the NBW was yet to be served to him, he adjourned the hearing to March 5.
According to the prosecution, Ajithkumar was taken into custody by a special team of police in connection with a theft case on June 27 and was brutally tortured for two days before being taken to Thiruppuvanam GH, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The case was transferred to the CBI in July. Six constables were held and later chargesheeted on August 20. CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet on December 12, adding four more persons including Shanmugasundaram as suspects.
Taking the supplementary chargesheet, the CJM had summoned the four additional suspects. While three have appeared, the ex-DSP was absent despite repeated summons. His anticipatory bail petition was dismissed by the high court on February 23.