Sathankulam Custodial Deaths: Timeline of Justice and Inquiry

A convict is given two days’ emergency leave Court order or verdict

The bench granted P. Raghu Ganesh, one of the nine convicts, emergency leave on 25 and 26 August to attend his father’s last rites in Kalakad, under escort and returning to Madurai Central Prison (The Hindu). The order was on his wife’s petition. It did not touch the appeals or the death-sentence reference.

The High Court lets the former inspector argue his own appeal Court order or verdict

The division bench hearing the death-sentence reference and the nine appeals allowed former inspector S. Sridhar, who had chosen not to engage a lawyer, to argue his appeal in person on 27 July. It refused his request to attend every hearing in person; he appeared by video conference (The New Indian Express).

The bench also asked the Registry for a report on appointing a senior advocate to assist the court, citing a Supreme Court ruling that a senior counsel and two advocates must be provided in death-sentence matters even when the convict has a private lawyer. The CBI was told to finish its arguments between 20 and 24 July, with the full afternoon session set aside.

Seven of the nine have filed appeals; two have not Court order or verdict

The court was told that seven of the nine convicts had filed appeals. Sridhar, who is arguing in person, and constable X. Thomas Francis had not. The bench urged them to hurry and adjourned the case to 15 June (The New Indian Express).

The judges noted that the record runs to about 10,000 pages and that the present sitting arrangement ends on 25 June, so they asked counsel whether the same bench should keep the matter or it should go to the next bench. By 16 July the case was before a different bench.

The High Court gives all nine time to file appeals Court order or verdict

Hearing the referred trial, the bench gave the nine convicted police personnel until 4 June to file appeals against the convictions and death sentences (The Hindu). The convicts joined by video from Madurai Central Prison. Former inspector Sridhar said he would argue in person, as at the trial; the others said they had engaged counsel. The judges told both sides to be ready to proceed with the reference and the appeals on 4 June (The New Indian Express).

The order decided nothing on the convictions or sentences. News Today reported it on 2 May (News Today).

The High Court issues notice on the death-sentence reference Court order or verdict

After the trial court referred the death sentences for approval, the bench issued notice to the nine convicts and asked whether any had filed appeals against the conviction and sentence. It adjourned the matter to 30 April (The New Indian Express).

All nine police personnel are sentenced to death Court order or verdict

The court held the case fell within the “rarest of rare” category and sentenced all nine to death (LiveLaw). The judge said a life term was not enough because “police officials may get emboldened that they can come out of jail after serving it”, and that he could not separate who had beaten the men more (The New Indian Express).

LiveLaw reported that the officers were ordered to pay compensation totalling ₹1.40 crore to the family; The New Indian Express reported an overall fine of ₹1 crore. The judge also credited the High Court: “Had the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court not understood the gravity of the case and monitored the investigation, the truth would have been buried along with Jeyaraj and Beniks.” Hearings on sentence were held on 2 April, after reports on the convicts’ circumstances were filed.

The verdict reopens the political row over the chief minister’s 2020 remark Government and politics

Two days after the conviction, the DMK asked whether former chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami would now apologise, a reference to his public statement on 24 June 2020 that the two men had died of illness (Wikipedia summary of the 2020 record). The AIADMK was in power when the deaths happened.

All nine police personnel are convicted of murder Court order or verdict

The court found that Jayaraj and Bennix died of custodial assault and not, as the defence argued, of pre-existing medical conditions, and held the killings amounted to murder (Bar and Bench). All nine were convicted under IPC sections 342, 195, 211, 218 and 302, read with sections 109 and 34 (LiveLaw).

The trial had examined more than 50 witnesses. The defence argued the arrest followed only a lockdown violation and a verbal quarrel, and disputed any conspiracy among the officers. Sentence was first set for 30 March.

The High Court orders the trial finished in three months, “without fail” Court order or verdict

On a petition J. Selvarani filed in 2021, the court noted that nearly four and a half years had passed since the trial began and directed the trial court to complete it in three months. The trial judge had asked for four months. The High Court had by then extended the original six-month deadline at least ten times, mostly at the trial judge’s request or while hearing bail pleas (The New Indian Express).

The court was told that the trial court had refused the CBI’s application to add a criminal-conspiracy charge, but had added and altered other charges, including IPC sections 34 and 114. The CBI blamed the delay on marathon cross-examination by the accused, especially Sridhar, who questioned witnesses himself. In the same month the trial court rejected an application by Raghu Ganesh to produce a doctor’s report; he moved the High Court, which listed his plea for 5 January (The New Indian Express).

The High Court warns against dragging the trial out Court order or verdict

Hearing a plea by jailed sub-inspector P. Raghu Ganesh to cross-examine Judicial Magistrate Sakthivel, the 36th prosecution witness, whose report ran to about a hundred pages, the court said the case should not be prolonged (DT Next). The CBI said permission to cross-examine had been given several times before without result.

Bail refused to the inspector; a three-month deadline for the prosecution Court order or verdict

The court dismissed the bail plea of former inspector Sridhar and directed the trial court to finish the prosecution evidence within three months (DT Next). The CBI argued that cross-examination by the defence was causing delay; the court noted it had taken about a month and a half to examine a single witness.

The CBI files a supplementary charge sheet Investigation

The supplementary charge sheet ran to more than 350 pages and was served on all nine accused (The New Indian Express). After a revision petition by Raghu Ganesh over documents not given to the defence, the High Court ordered the post-mortem video CD to be supplied to the accused. The court had also heard a telecom nodal officer on the victims’ call records.

The Supreme Court refuses bail to the inspector and a sub-inspector Court order or verdict

The bench said bail for S. Sridhar and P. Raghu Ganesh could not be granted “at this stage” and dismissed Raghu Ganesh’s challenge to the High Court’s six-month deadline (The Leaflet). Their lawyers argued the men died of heart ailments and that Raghu Ganesh was not at the station; the CBI said the forensic report showed death by blunt injuries. Indira Jaising, for Jayaraj’s wife, said two women constables who testified against the accused were yet to be examined.

On the family’s plea, the High Court sets a six-month deadline The family’s plea

Selvarani, Jayaraj’s wife and Bennix’s mother, asked the court to fix a time limit, alleging that the accused had threatened security staff and reporters at a hearing and that Sridhar had used a relative’s phone in court to tell someone to pay ₹36 lakh (The News Minute). The court gave the trial court six months.

The trial begins in Madurai Court order or verdict

The trial opened about eight months after the deaths, with all accused in custody. It ran before the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai, which delivered the verdict five years later (Wikipedia; Bar and Bench).

The CBI charges nine police personnel with murder Investigation

The charge sheet named inspector Sridhar, two sub-inspectors, two head constables and four constables under IPC section 120-B read with sections 302 (murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 201 (destroying evidence), 182, 193, 211, 218 and 34 (The New Indian Express). It combined both cases. One more accused, a special sub-inspector, had died during the investigation.

Bar and Bench later described the charge sheet as running to 2,027 pages (Bar and Bench). A charge sheet is the investigators’ case; guilt was decided only in March 2026.

A special sub-inspector arrested in the case dies of COVID-19 Investigation

Special sub-inspector Pauldurai, 56, died while being treated for COVID-19, which he had tested positive for on 24 July while in Madurai Central Prison (The News Minute). He had diabetes and heart disease. His widow said he had been wrongly implicated. His death left nine accused for trial.

Five more police personnel are arrested; Friends of Police is disbanded Police and custody

The CB-CID arrested Pauldurai and constables Chelladurai, Samadurai, Veilumuthu and Thomas Francis, who were alleged to have held the men while others beat them (The News Minute). The same day, the state disbanded the Friends of Police volunteer scheme across Tamil Nadu, after reports that volunteers had joined the assault (Wikipedia).

The CBI takes over the investigation Investigation

With the Centre’s approval, the CBI registered the two cases first filed at Kovilpatti East police station and took over the probe (The New Indian Express). Its team worked from Madurai through the pandemic; seven CBI officers later tested positive for COVID-19.

The inspector and four others are arrested Police and custody

The CB-CID, acting on the High Court’s order, arrested sub-inspectors Raghu Ganesh and Balakrishnan, inspector Sridhar, head constable Murugan and constable Muthuraja and booked them for murder (The News Minute).

The High Court hands the case to the CB-CID until the CBI arrives Court order or verdict

Rather than wait for the CBI’s formal takeover, the court told the CB-CID to start investigating at once (Deccan Herald). While hearing the suo motu case, the bench said there was prima facie material for a murder charge and noted attempts to destroy evidence (LiveLaw).

Head constable Revathi, who was on duty that night, had given a statement to the inquiring magistrate. She later testified at trial and identified personnel seen in the station’s CCTV footage, which helped place the accused at the scene (DT Next).

Revenue officials take control of the police station Court order or verdict

The Kovilpatti judicial magistrate reported that police were obstructing his inquiry, including a “very disparaging remark” by a constable in front of senior officers. The court ordered the Thoothukudi collector to depute revenue officials to take over Sathankulam police station and began contempt proceedings against three policemen (The Tribune). The same day, the state issued the order transferring the case to the CBI (The New Indian Express).

The chief minister announces a CBI investigation Government and politics

After days of protests and national outrage, the chief minister said the case would go to the CBI, with the court’s permission (Deccan Herald). The hashtag #JusticeforJayarajandBennix had trended across India on 26 June (Wikipedia).

The High Court steps in; the state first blames illness Government and politics

On 24 June the court took suo motu notice, called the Thoothukudi superintendent of police and ordered the post-mortems to be done by three doctors on video, in front of a magistrate (Wikipedia). The station’s staff were moved out.

The same day the chief minister said the two had died of illness. On 25 June he announced ₹10 lakh for the family for each death and a government job for one family member.

Jayaraj dies; protests spread The detention and deaths

Jayaraj, 58 or 59 according to differing reports, died in the early hours, a few hours after his son (The New Indian Express). Shopkeepers in Sathankulam shut their shops and blocked the road that evening, demanding murder charges; the protests spread across Tamil Nadu the next day (Wikipedia).

Bennix dies in hospital The detention and deaths

J. Bennix, 31, died after being moved from Kovilpatti sub-jail to the hospital (The New Indian Express). The post-mortem later recorded 13 external injuries on Bennix and 17 on Jayaraj (The New Indian Express).

A fitness certificate and a remand without examination Police and custody

In the morning, according to later accounts of the investigation, the two men were taken to hospital, where a doctor certified them fit despite heavy bleeding. A judicial magistrate remanded them to custody without examining them, and they were taken to Kovilpatti sub-jail, far from Sathankulam (Wikipedia).

Father and son are taken to Sathankulam police station The detention and deaths

Police took Jayaraj, a trader, from the family’s mobile phone shop for allegedly keeping it open past lockdown hours. When Bennix went to the station to ask for his release, a quarrel followed (The New Indian Express).

The prosecution’s case, accepted by the trial court, is that both were stripped and beaten through the night. Bar and Bench reported witness evidence that police had been looking for the man who had criticised them the day before (Bar and Bench).