MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Thursday reserved orders on the bail petition filed by sub-inspector P Ragu Ganesh, one of the key accused in Sathankulam custodial death case. Ganesh was arrested along with nine other policemen for the alleged custodial death of two traders -- P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks -- in June 2020. But Ganesh denied the allegations. While his earlier bail petitions were dismissed by the court, he approached the court once again alleging delay in the trial.
However, the special public prosecutor appearing for the CBI contended that the delay in completing the trial cannot be a ground for granting bail in heinous cases like murder. The court is conducting the trial in a speedy manner and is scheduling the hearings at least twice or thrice a week, he added.
"The prosecution has examined 47 witnesses so far. While the chief examination of witnesses gets completed in one or two days, the cross-examination goes on for several hearings. For instance, the doctor, who conducted the postmortem examination of the victims, was cross-examined by the defense for one and a half months," he said.
The counsel who appeared for Jeyaraj's wife Selvarani, argued that Ganesh has three cases of the same nature pending against him. He further stated that Ganesh is an influential person and could tamper with the witnesses if released on bail. Justice K Murali Shankar, who heard the plea, reserved his orders.