Father-son duo died due to torture in police custody: CBI

61-year-old P Jeyaraj and his son Emmanuel Bennix (31) were “tortured” by police personnel at the Sathankulam Police Station in Tamil Nadu on June 19 and June 20 leading to their deaths a few days later, an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has found.

CBI has filed a charge sheet naming nine policemen, including the then inspector of the police station, for arresting the father-son duo under a false charge and torturing them. A case was filed against 10 policemen, but one sub-inspector died during the investigation after being infected with Covid-19.

Bennix and Jeyaraj were arrested on June 19 for allegedly obstructing the police from doing their work but they died on June 22 and June 23 respectively due to injuries inflicted upon them during the police custody. The custodial deaths led to a national outrage prompting the Tamil Nadu government to order a CBI inquiry – the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had ordered the CB-CID wing to take over the investigation till the time CBI began its work.

Inspector and SHO S Sridhar, Sub Inspectors K. Balakrishnan, P Raghuganesh, Head Constables S Murugan, A Samadurai, and Constables M Muthuraja, S Chelladurai, X Thomas Francis and, S Veilumuthu who were working in the police station at Sathankulam, 635 km from here, in Thoothukudi district have been named in the charge sheet.

CBI Investigation revealed that the father-son duo were arrested in the evening of 19.06.2020 and allegedly tortured at the Sathankulam Police Station by the accused in the evening as well as in the intervening night, consequent to which both of them succumbed to the injuries and died in the intervening night of 22.06.2020 and 23.06.2020,” a statement from CBI said.

The statement said further investigation is continuing to look into the role of other persons in the case.