A Madurai court on Monday, March 23, convicted nine police officers for the brutal custodial killing of P Jeyaraj and his son J Benniks at the Sathankulam police station in Thoothukudi district in June 2020. All nine police officers have been found guilty of murder. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on March 30.
The father and son, who were mobile phone retailers, were illegally arrested on false charges and subjected to a brutal assault by a group of policemen, so savage that the CBI later found their blood splattered across the walls of the police station.
Judge G Muthukumaran of the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai has found Inspector S Sridhar, sub-inspectors P Raghu Ganesh and K Balakrishnan; head constables S Murugan and A Saamidurai; and constables M Muthuraj, S Chelladurai, Thomas X and S Veilumuthu, guilty of murder.
The court said that Sridhar had instructed the others to assault the duo, adding that they had a father and son to practise beating on.
A tenth accused in the case, special sub-inspector Pauldurai, died after contracting COVID-19.
58-year-old P Jeyaraj and his 31-year-old son J Benniks, were arrested on June 19, 2020. Within days of being taken into custody, both men died at the Kovilpatti Government Hospital on June 22 and 23, 2020. Though the police claimed the shop had been kept open after covid curfew hours, CCTV visuals that emerged at the time, clearly showed the police had been lying. They reached the shop before the curfew began, and took Jeyaraj to the police station. His son Benniks followed them on a bike.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the probe, the duo were subjected to prolonged and inhuman torture inside the Sathankulam police station. They duo were beaten up so badly that their blood splashed the walls of the police station. Forensic and medical reports confirmed multiple blunt-force injuries, while DNA evidence collected from the lock-up, lathis, and other locations in the station matched the victims.
"Not only this, their clothes were removed to add to the brutality of the torture. Both Jeyaraj and Benniks, turn by turn, were made to bow down on a wooden table in underwear only, their hands and legs were caught hold by accused police officials, so that they were not able to defend themselves," said the CBI. "While holding them in that position they were subjected to severe beatings with a lathi on their buttocks, back and other parts of the body," it adds.
The victims were made to wipe their blood off the floors with their own clothes.
A woman police officer posted in the same station gave her testimony, describing the violence at the station, which turned crucial for the case. A bloodstained blanket on which the father and son had been made to sit while waiting in court for their remand orders was also submitted as evidence.
In its chargesheet, the agency named 10 police personnel as accused, including Inspector S. Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors P. Raghu Ganesh and K. Balakrishnan, and several constables. One of the accused later died of COVID-19, leaving nine to stand trial.
The CBI maintained that Inspector Sridhar was the main conspirator who instigated other personnel to assault the victims through the night of June 19 until around 3 am the next morning. It opposed his plea to turn approver, arguing that the gravity of the charges warranted no leniency. In August 2025, the trial court rejected Sridhar’s petition seeking pardon in exchange for testimony.
Eyewitness accounts and statements recorded during the investigation described severe assault inside the station, with reports of the victims bleeding profusely and being forced to change multiple blood-soaked clothes. Woman constable S Revathy also corroborated that the assault continued through the night.
The Kovilpatti Judicial Magistrate, in a report to the High Court, said that CCTV footage from the police station had been deleted and not preserved. The report noted that the CCTV system had adequate storage capacity.
Despite this, the probe relied on forensic evidence, eyewitness testimonies, and medical reports to build the case.
The incident, which occurred during the COVID-19 lockdown, was initially registered as suspicious deaths but was later treated as a case of murder following postmortem findings and public outrage. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court took suo motu cognisance and monitored the probe before it was handed over to the CBI.
The CBI filed its primary chargesheet on September 25, 2020, and a supplementary chargesheet on August 12, 2022, before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Madurai.
What transpired that week
Jeyaraj was picked up from his shop near the Kamaraj statue at around 7.30 pm on June 19, 2020, and taken to the Sathankulam police station as part of a criminal conspiracy by the accused.
Later Benniks rushed to the police station and objected to the assault of his father. He too was detained subsequently and both were assaulted to “teach them a lesson.” The torture continued for several hours through the night.
The probe revealed that the victims were allegedly forced to clean the blood from their wounds. The next morning, a sanitation worker at the station was made to clean bloodstains from the floor to destroy evidence. A false case was then registered against them, the CBI said.
A “fit for remand” certificate was obtained from a doctor despite their severe injuries, and their blood-stained clothes were discarded in a dustbin at the Sathankulam Government Hospital.
Jeyaraj and Benniks were reportedly limping and unable to sit properly when produced before the medical officer, and were later remanded by a Judicial Magistrate.
While lodged at the Kovilpatti Sub-Jail, both developed health complications and subsequently died at the Kovilpatti Government Hospital.
In its supplementary chargesheet, the CBI also submitted findings from the examination of video footage related to the case.
Over the years, activists and civil society groups have flagged delays in the trial and departmental action against the accused, even as the case remained a key example in debates around custodial violence and police accountability in India.