Sivaganga custodial death case: Madras High Court directs CBI to complete probe by August 20

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday (July 8, 2025) ordered that the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) appoint an investigating officer in one week to probe the custodial death of B. Ajith Kumar, a temple security guard, in Sivaganga. The court directed the investigating officer to complete the probe and submit the final report to the jurisdictional court by August 20.

Hearing a batch of public interest litigation (PIL) petitions pertaining to the case, a Division Bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and A.D. Maria Clete directed the investigating officer to collect the report of the District Judge, who had conducted an inquiry into the case, material evidence, and other related documents from the Registrar Judicial of the High Court.

The investigating officer was also directed to collect the report of the Jurisdictional Judicial Magistrate. The High Court further ordered that the post-mortem report be filed before the court concerned.

The Inspector General of Police (South Zone) and the Superintendents of Police of Madurai and Sivaganga districts were also directed to provide necessary assistance to the CBI team.

Further, the State was directed to provide protection to the witnesses under the Victim Protection Scheme.

The court took cognisance of the detailed inquiry report submitted by Fourth Additional District Judge, Madurai, S. John Sunderlal Suresh.

State’s submissions

The State had submitted a report to the court on the transfer of the probe into the custodial death case to the CBI, for which a government order had been issued.

The State submitted that “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion,” and that was why the probe was transferred to the CBI. It undertook that the alleged theft of jewels (as claimed by a woman complainant in the case) will also be transferred to the CBI, and that a G.O. will be issued in this regard.

The State further submitted that video clippings of court proceedings in the case were being recorded and circulated on social media, which was against the Madras High Court Video Conference Rules. The judges said the court would deal with this matter separately.

Taking into account that a free house patta and a job in Aavin, Karaikudi, were provided to Naveen Kumar, brother of the deceased, the court directed the State to get instructions with regard to interim compensation, and posted the matter for hearing at 2:15 p.m.

Following the custodial death incident, six police personnel were suspended and five of a Special Team were arrested and remanded in judicial custody. Manamadurai DSP was also suspended, and the Sivaganga SP was transferred.