Tamil Nadu: Court Remands Former DSP, Three Other Cops Over Temple Guard's Custodial Death
New Delhi: Four policemen, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police and a station house officer, were remanded in judicial custody on September 10 after a sessions court in Tamil Nadu framed charges against them in the brutal custodial death of a 29-year-old temple security guard.
The Fifth Additional District and Sessions Court judge K. Dhamodharan on Thursday framed murder charges.
Former Manamadurai DSP N Shanmugasundaram, former Thirupuvanam inspector S.P. Rameshkumar, special sub-inspector S Sivakumar, and head constable G Ilayaraja were sent to judicial remand till September 16. The New Indian Express reports that they were taken to the Madurai Central Prison by police on Thursday itself.
Temple guard Ajith Kumar had been taken to Thiruppuvanam police station in Sivaganga district on June 27, 2025, for questioning over a jewellery theft. He was subsequently taken into custody by a special police team under the supervision of the then DSP Shanmugasundram, along with five others, including his brother Naveen. The team reportedly travelled to 19 locations over nearly 22 hours. Ajith Kumar died the following evening after allegedly having been subjected to brutal torture.
After a public interest litigation was filed by lawyer Karthick Raja before the Madurai bench of the Madras high court, a judicial inquiry was ordered. The inquiry report described the incident as a gruesome attack and murder of a temple guard with no criminal antecedents.
A postmortem examination recorded 44 external injuries, as observed by a district judge on July 8, 2025.
The case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which filed its chargesheet against five policemen and the driver of the police vehicle in August 2025. A supplementary chargesheet later named DSP Shanmugasundaram, inspector Ramesh Kumar, sub-inspector Sivakumar and head constable Ilayaraja.
The CBI had not arrested the four officers during its investigation. However, the the Fifth Additional District Court, Madurai, framed charges against all 10 accused. The court included offences relating to illegal detention, torture, murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence. The court also found material indicating that Ramesh Kumar had allegedly facilitated the illegal custody and its subsequent cover-up, leading to his brutal torture.
The court rejected the argument that an earlier anticipatory bail order barred remand, and cited the gravity of the offences, the risk of evidence tampering and the alleged destruction of mobile phones.
In an instance of comparatively quick delivery of administrative and legal response, the government has given the deceased man's family an amount of Rs 32.5 lakh in compensation, along with a three-cent house plot and employment for his brother. The family is also under witness protection. The case was taken up by the Joint Action Against Custodial Torture (JAACT), a group which was formed after the 2020 Sathankulam custodial killings.
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