Tamil Nadu custodial deaths: Madras high court orders revenue officials to take control of Sathankulam police station

MADURAI: The Madras high court on Monday directed the Tuticorin district collector to depute revenue officers to take control of the Sathankulam police station -- which is in the eye of a storm over the custodial deaths of P Jayaraj and his son J Beniks -- for collecting relevant materials.
The court’s direction comes after the Tuticorin principal district judge, who is closely monitoring the case, informed it that personnel at the police station were not cooperating with the Kovilpatti judicial magistrate (JM) inquiry.
The judges directed the assistant director of the forensic department to send a forensic team to assist the JM in collecting the materials.
The court said the Tamil Nadu government need not seek its permission to transfer the case to the CBI as it is a policy decision.
The high court is monitoring the case after taking has taken suo motu cognizance of the deaths the father-son duo.