MADURAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been granted three days custody of five police personnel who were arrested in connection with the alleged custodial deaths of two Sathankulam traders Jeyaraj and Beniks.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) TV Hemananda Kumar of Madurai passed the order on Tuesday by considering an application filed by the agency seeking five days custody of the accused -- inspector Sridhar, sub-inspectors Raghu Ganesh and Balakrishnan and head constables Muthuraj and Murugan. The accused would be returned to judicial custody on July 16 at 5.30 pm.
A team of seven CBI officials, headed by Additional SP Vijay Kumar Shukla, began its investigation of the case on July 10. They applied for custody of the five accused before the CJM on Monday evening.
The application was taken up today at around 11.30 am and the five accused, who were lodged in Madurai Central Prison, were produced before the CJM. After hearing the application, the CJM granted custody of the accused to CBI with directions that they should be produced back before the court on July 16 evening.
During the hearing, Sridhar and Raghu Ganesh prayed to the CJM that their counsels should be permitted to visit them daily when they are in CBI custody. The same was allowed by the CJM.