HC bench dismisses bail pleas of four jailed cops in Sathankulam custodial deaths case

The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed bail pleas of four jailed cops in the custodial deaths of father and son P Jeyaraj and J Bennix, who were traders in Sathankulam, Thoothukudi district.

The bail pleas of S. Murugan, head constable and constables including X. Thomas Francis, M. Muthuraj and S. Veilumuthu came up for hearing before Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan. The petitioners stated that they are being lodged in central prison, Madurai after being arrested in connection with the custodial deaths of Jeyaraj and his son Bennix. Moreover, the petitioners pleaded before the Judge that they would not abscond and obey bail conditions.

Citing these, the petitioners sought the Judge to grant them bail. The counsel on behalf of CBI raised strong objections to the bail plea citing that there could be a possibility of destroying evidence in the cases if bail was granted to them.

The Judge, after hearing, asked why the petitioners did not exit the Sathankulam station and take such a serious issue of illegal torture against Jeyaraj and Bennix to higher authorities when the then Inspector Srithar and Sub Inspector Raghu Ganesh and ‘Friends of Police’ personnel were said to have thrashed father-son duo in the station. The Judge then dismissed the bail pleas of the cops.