MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has denied bail to three police personnel arrested in connection with the alleged custodial death of Sathankulam traders P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks.
Justice V Bharathidasan passed the order on the bail petitions filed by former head constables of Sathankulam police station -- S Murugan, M Muthuraj and X Thomas Francis.
The judge observed that on June 19, 2020, the accused took Jeyaraj to the police station. When Beniks reached the station, he engaged in a heated argument with a few policemen and reportedly pushed Muthuraj when the policeman tried to manhandle him. Following this, the father-son duo was beaten up by the policemen, including the petitioners, which caused them severe bleeding injuries.
The judge further observed that the statements of witnesses had also revealed that both the traders were asked to clean the blood that had oozed from their wounds and spilled on to the floor of the police station with their own vests and the torture continued throughout the night
"Despite severe wounds, the policemen managed to get 'fit for remand' certificates from the doctors. The traders were remanded, but died later owing to complications from the injuries," the judge noted.
After perusing all the materials submitted by the CBI, the judge said that the petitioners played a direct role in the physical torture inflicted on the two men.
Since the petitioners are policemen and might threaten the witnesses (some of whom work in the same police station), the judge refused to grant them bail and dismissed the petitions.
Former Sathankulam inspector Sridhar, who is among the accused, was also denied bail by the court two weeks ago.