Sathankulam verdict: Death sentence for nine cops who murdered father and son over lockdown rules

MADURAI: In a historic judgment that sent shockwaves through the country’s legal and law enforcement landscape, the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai on Monday, April 6, 2026, awarded the death penalty to nine police officers for the brutal custodial murders of a father and son in 2020.

Judge G. Muthukumaran, presiding over the case, classified the torture and subsequent deaths of P. Jeyaraj (58) and his son J. Bennix (31) as one of the "rarest of rare" instances of human rights violations.

The court sentenced the following nine convicts to death:

• Inspector: S. Sridhar
• Sub-Inspectors: P. Raghu Ganesh and K. Balakrishnan
• Head Constables: S. Murugan and A. Samadurai
• Constables: M. Muthuraja, S. Chelladurai, X. Thomas Francis, and S. Veilumuthu

A tenth accused, Special Sub-Inspector Paldurai, died of Covid-19 complications during the trial. In addition to the capital punishment, the court ordered a combined compensation of ₹1.40 crore to be paid to the bereaved family.

Delivering the judgment, Judge Muthukumaran remarked that the court’s "heart shudders" upon reviewing the details of the brutality.

"This is a case of extreme abuse of authority. Those who were sworn to protect the law became the law-breakers. The victims had no criminal records and were subjected to horrific torture for a minor, and later disproved, allegation of lockdown violation."

The six-year battle for justice traces back to June 19, 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Sathankulam, Thoothukudi district, when the duo was picked up for allegedly keeping their mobile shop open past the 8:00 PM curfew. The severity of the police assault became tragically clear just days later, as Bennix succumbed to internal injuries at Kovilpatti General Hospital on June 22, 2020, followed by the death of his father, Jeyaraj, only hours later on June 23. From 2020 to 2026, a prolonged legal battle followed, anchored by a comprehensive CBI probe that involved the testimony of over 100 witnesses and the filing of a massive 2,000-page chargesheet to secure this conviction.

The prosecution, led by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), had argued for the maximum penalty, citing the sheer depravity of the acts. Evidence showed the victims were stripped and assaulted with weapons throughout the night, and were even forced to clean their own blood from the station floor to hide the crime.

Crucial to the prosecution’s success were the damning testimonies of key witnesses and recovered digital evidence that systematically dismantled the police officers’ initial claims of non-violence. A woman head constable, who was on duty during the incident, provided a courageous eyewitness account, testifying to the brutal nature of the assault and confirming that the victims were beaten throughout the night. This testimony was corroborated by CCTV footage recovered from shops near the Sathankulam police station and the station's own vicinity, which contradicted the official police logs regarding the timing of the arrests and the physical condition of the father and son when they were brought in. Furthermore, the CBI presented forensic evidence showing that bloodstains found on the walls and the wooden logs used in the assault matched the DNA of Jeyaraj and Bennix, providing irrefutable physical proof that the station had been turned into a site of a targeted, fatal attack.

The verdict was met with emotional scenes outside the court. The family of Jeyaraj and Bennix, who have campaigned tirelessly for six years, welcomed the decision.

Legal experts suggest that while the convicts are expected to appeal the sentence in the Madras High Court, this verdict serves as a stern warning against custodial violence in India. It marks one of the few instances in Indian judicial history where an entire group of police personnel has been sentenced to death for a single incident of custodial murder.