Sathankulam custodial deaths: Madras high court directs CB-CID DSP to file status report

MADURAI: The Madras high court on Thursday directed CB-CID DSP Anil Kumar to file a status report, in a sealed cover, on the actions taken so far in the custodial deaths case of P Jeyaraj and his son Beniks at Sathankulam in Tuticorin district.
A division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice P Rajamanickam appealed to print, visual and social media not to misinterpret or mislead the proceedings and observations of the court. The judges also further appealed them not to conduct media trials as that would affect the prosecution as well as the accused.
Additional advocate general K Chellapandian submitted that the CB-CID that had taken over the investigation had altered the sections and arrested 10 police personnel. He further submitted that all assistance would be rendered to CBI officials for their investigation.
Assistant solicitor general V Kathirvelu submitted that the CBI also had registered two cases and a team of seven officials would be landing at Madurai on Friday to conduct investigations.
Taking cognizance of the submissions, the judges observed that since the CBI is prepared to investigate the case, it could take into account the materials collected by the CB-CID officials for effective investigation.
The court said either the CB-CID or the CBI should immediately file an application before the concerned jurisdictional magistrate to take the arrested police personnel into custody before the expiry of the first 15 days of remand period.
The case was adjourned to July 28 for further hearing.