Sivaganga custodial death: Cop seeks to quash chargesheet

Madurai: Madras high court has sought response from the CBI on a plea moved by then inspector of police of Thiruppuvanam, S P Ramesh Kumar seeking to quash the supplementary chargesheet in which he was named as an accused in the custodial death case of Madapuram temple security guard B Ajith Kumar.Ajith Kumar, who was working at a Batharakaliamman temple at Madapuram in Sivaganga district, died during custodial interrogation on June 28, 2025. The state transferred the custodial death case and the connected jewel theft case to the CBI, which arrested six policemen - Prabhu, Kannan, Sankaramanikandan, Raja, Ananth and Ramachandran.Initially, the CBI filed the final report before the fifth additional district and sessions court in Madurai against six police personnel. Subsequently, the CBI filed a supplementary chargesheet naming four more police personnel - then Manamadurai DSP Shanmugasundaram, Ramesh Kumar, then sub-inspector Sivakumar and then head constable Ilayaraja - as accused in the case, in addition to the six police personnel who were already arrested.In his petition, Kumar stated that CBI had not obtained prior permission from the concerned jurisdictional magistrate for conducting further investigation. Therefore, the supplementary chargesheet filed in the case is not valid. He further stated that there is absolutely no circumstantial material to show that he was involved in the illegal detention and torture of the deceased. Hence, he moved court.Justice B Pugalendhi directed the CBI to file a counter affidavit and posted the case for hearing on April 28.