The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday relieved the revenue officials who were deputed to the Sattankulam police station by the Thoothukudi Collector, as per the court’s order, after the judges were informed by the State government that the CB-CID had collected clues from the police station.
Earlier, taking a serious view of the fact that the policemen involved in the alleged custodial deaths of trader P. Jayaraj and his son J. Benicks were not cooperating with the judicial magistrate, Kovilpatti, in the inquiry, the court had directed the Thoothukudi Collector to depute revenue officials to the police station to preserve materials in the case.
Additional Advocate General K. Chellapandian made a mention before a Division Bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and B. Pugalendhi to modify its earlier order and relieve the revenue officials as the CB-CID had taken over the investigation and collected the materials.
The court relieved the officials from their post and adjourned the hearing in the case till July 9.
