6 months ago
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Justice K. Murali Shankar astatine the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court connected Wednesday granted three-month further clip to the First Additional District and Sessions Court, Madurai, to implicit the proceedings successful the lawsuit of custodial deaths of trader P. Jayaraj and his lad J. Benicks astatine Sattankulam.
While disposing of the petition filed by J. Selvarani, woman of Jayaraj and parent of Benicks, the High Court successful March 2021 had directed the proceedings tribunal to implicit the proceedings successful the lawsuit successful six months. Subsequently, the HC connected aggregate occasions granted further clip to the proceedings tribunal to implicit the trial.
In 2023, the tribunal had granted further clip taking into relationship the information that the station of the presiding serviceman was vacant and the lawsuit was being heard by the Additional District Judge for CBI Cases successful Madurai arsenic further charge.
In June 2025, during the proceeding of the bail petition of the main accused, suspended Inspector of Police S. Sridhar, the HC was told by the prosecution that Sridhar participated successful the proceedings successful idiosyncratic and cross-examined witnesses astatine magnitude by taking a fig of hearings.
The Judicial Magistrate was cross-examined for 26 hearings and the Investigating Officer I was cross-examined for 21 hearings, it was submitted. The volition of the petitioner and the different accused was lone to resistance the proceedings, not enabling the proceedings tribunal to dispose of the case, the HC was told. The bail petition was subsequently dismissed.
The CBI had filed the chargesheet and supplementary chargesheet against the past Inspector Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors P. Raghu Ganesh and K. Balakrishnan, caput constables S. Murugan and A. Saamidurai, and constables M. Muthuraj, S. Chelladurai, X. Thomas Francis and S. Veilumuthu. Special SI Pauldurai, an accused successful the case, died aft contracting COVID-19.
