The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered an interim stay on the portion of the trial court judgment that directed CB-CID to conduct further investigation and file a supplementary chargesheet in the case pertaining to the 2019 custodial torture and death of a 17-year-old boy at the hands of the S.S. Colony police in Madurai.
Last month, the Fifth Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai sentenced four police personnel to a total of 11 years’ rigorous imprisonment in the case.
Fifth Additional District and Sessions Judge R. Joseph Joy had sentenced the then Inspector S. Alexraj, then Special Sub-Inspector R. Ravichandran, then head constable S. Ravichandran, and then Grade I constable C. Satheeshkumar to 11-year rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of ₹12,000 on each of them.
The judge also directed CB-CID, which investigated the case, to add three other police personnel, the then Inspector M. Arunachalam and Sub-Inspectors P. Kannan and K. Prem Chandran, both retired, as accused in the case for helping destroy evidence. The judge directed the Director-General of Police to suspend Mr. Arunachalam in order to ensure a fair trial. The judge directed CB-CID to conduct a probe and file a final report.
The judge took a serious view of the lapses in the investigation and directed disciplinary action be taken against the first Investigating Officer in the case, the then Superintendent of Police, CB-CID, S. Rajeswari, (currently Inspector-General of Police, Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board), and also against Dr. S. Jayakumar of the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), Madurai, and Dr. A. Srilatha, the then Resident Medical Officer of GRH.
Justice Sunder Mohan ordered an interim stay on the portion of the trial court judgement that directed CB-CID to conduct further investigation and also on the direction to initiate disciplinary proceedings. The court was hearing the petition filed by the State seeking the grant of an interim stay on the direction of the trial court to file a supplementary chargesheet and to expunge the direction.
In 2019, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had ordered the CB-CID to investigate the custodial torture and resultant death of Muthu Karthik. The boy was picked up by the S.S. Colony police for an inquiry into an alleged jewellery theft, kept in illegal custody for three days, and subjected to torture. He died of injuries at the GRH, where he was being treated. The court had observed that the police, the GRH, and the Juvenile Justice Board had not acted fairly in the case, while ordering a CB-CID probe.
Published – October 16, 2025 08:54 pm IST
