Justice After 6 Years: 9 Tamil Nadu Cops Sentenced to Death for Sathankulam Custodial Murders
Madurai, April 7, 2026 — In a landmark verdict that brings a harrowing six-year-long battle for justice to a close, a court in Tamil Nadu has awarded the death sentence to nine police personnel involved in the gruesome Sathankulam custodial torture case. The officers were convicted for the brutal double murder of a father-son duo, P. Jeyaraj and J. Bennix.
A “Rarest of Rare” Case
Delivering the highly anticipated judgment, the court classified the horrific acts committed by the law enforcement officers as falling squarely under the “rarest of rare” category.
The nine convicted policemen, who were stationed at the Sathankulam police station at the time of the incident, were found guilty of multiple severe charges, including murder, criminal conspiracy, and the intentional destruction of evidence. The court noted that the protectors of the law had turned into predators, thereby warranting the maximum possible punishment.
The 2020 Sathankulam Horror
The horrific incident dates back to June 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Jeyaraj (59) and his son Bennix (31) were arrested by the Sathankulam police in the Thoothukudi district. Their alleged crime was keeping their mobile accessories shop open slightly past the permitted curfew hours.
What followed was a night of unspeakable brutality. According to the investigation, the father and son were subjected to extreme physical and sexual torture while remanded in police custody. Both men succumbed to their massive internal and external injuries just days later at a local government hospital.
A Historic Precedent
The extreme brutality of the murders sparked immediate and massive nationwide outrage, drawing severe condemnation from human rights organizations, civil society, and political leaders. Following the public uproar, the investigation was transferred from the state police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI’s exhaustive chargesheet painstakingly detailed the systematic torture inflicted upon the duo and exposed the subsequent cover-up attempts orchestrated by the accused officers to destroy blood-stained evidence at the station.
For the grieving family of Jeyaraj and Bennix, who have tirelessly fought in the courts since 2020, this death penalty verdict marks the end of an agonizing legal journey. Legal experts are already hailing the judgment as a historic precedent that serves as a severe deterrent against police brutality and custodial violence in India.
