The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) urged the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy on Thursday to let the CB-CID continue with the investigation into the custodial deaths of Jayaraj and Bennix of Sathankulam and cancel the government order handing over the case to the CBI.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, the PUCL Tamil Nadu president K Kurinchi and general secretary K Saravanan said that CB-CID that had been investigating the case had arrested 10 police personnel and collected enough evidence on the case. Allowing it to continue with the investigations would take the case to its logical end quickly to ensure that the guilty were punished, they said.
Though the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court that took up the case had allowed the CBI to take over the investigation as it was a policy decision of the government, it had expressed apprehension over CBI completing the investigations quickly in view of the pandemic situation, they said.
However, if the people’s collective wishes went against the policy decision of the government, it could be reconsidered, they said adding that the civil society now felt that the transfer of the case to the CBI at this juncture could hamper the investigation.
They also said that CBI investigations into the police shooting at Thoothukudi during an anti-Sterlite protest and into the suicide of an IIT student Fathima Latheef had not progressed in the manner in which the people expected them to.
Hence there was a likelihood of the investigation into the Sathankulam incident too could be delayed, thus helping the accused and weakening the witnesses, the PUCL said.
