Constable Muthuraj of the Sattankulam police station was on Saturday remanded in judicial custody till July 17 after he was arrested by a CB-CID team near Vilaathikulam on Friday night in connection with the twin custodial deaths.
He was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Hema after health screening at the Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital around 8 a.m.
Following information from a relative of Muthuraj, the police team rushed to Poosanoor, the constable’s native place, from where he was picked up, sources said.
Having arrested all the key accused, the CB-CID is likely to approach the court soon for custody of the arrested officers and policemen for interrogation.
CB-CID sources said the investigators, who had already arrested the five police personnel named as accused in the First Information Report, were now focusing on the role of Friends of Police members, who were alleged to have beaten up Jayaraj and Benicks in the police station on the night of June 19.
A phone conversation thought to be between two members of the Friends of Police confirmed the suspicion that they, too, had played a gruesome role in the torture.
Police sources say five members of Friends of Police, who were at the Sattankulam station even as the father and son were thrashed, would also be grilled. “Since they have gone underground and their mobile phones remain switched off, they cannot be reached now. Anyway, they will also be grilled soon,” an officer said.
