All the nine police personnel convicted in the 2020 Sattankulam custodial deaths case, in which trader P. Jayaraj (58) and his son J. Benicks (31) died in police custody, were awarded death sentence by the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai on Monday (April 6, 2026).
EXPLAINED | What is the Sattankulam father-son custodial torture death case all about?
On March 23, 2026, the court convicted all nine police personnel in the case but had said that the quantum of their sentence would be pronounced later.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the counsel representing the family of Jayaraj on Thursday (April 2, 2026) sought maximum punishment for the nine policemen convicted by the trial court in the case. The counsels submitted before the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai that the case fell within the category of the rarest of rare cases and maximum punishment should be awarded to the convicts. “It was a heinous crime and the traders were tortured all through the night at the Sattankulam police station,” the counsel pointed out.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court took suo motu cognisance of the crime and passed a slew of directions. The then AIADMK government transferred the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In all, 10 police personnel were named as accused in the case. One of them died after contracting COVID-19. The CBI has prosecuted nine police personnel.
