DK police nab eight for loot during Mahamastakabhisheka

Tuticorin, Jul 2: The Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) of Tamil Nadu police have arrested five policemen working in Sathankulam police station in Tuticorin district for the murder of P. Jeyaraj and his son J. Bennicks, officials said.

The CBCID also altered the first information report (FIR) registered on the death of Jeyaraj and Bennicks as a murder case from the earlier charge of suspicious death.

The five arrested policemen are: Inspector Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh, Head Constable Murugan and Constable Muthuraj.

Ganesh was remanded to custody till July 16 on late Wednesday.

According to Inspector General CBCID Shankar, 12 teams have been formed to carry out the probe into the custodial death of father and son Jeyaraj and Bennicks.

Jeyaraj and Bennicks had been booked for not closing their mobile shop in time on June 19 by the Sathankulam police. They were sent to judicial custody and lodged in Kovilpatti jail on June 21.

Jeyaraj died on June 22 night and Bennicks on June 23 morning in judicial custody, allegedly due to the police torture.

The Madras High Court Bench in Madurai which took up the case suo moto had said there was prima facie evidence to register a murder case against the Sathankulam police officials.

The Kovilpatti Judicial Magistrate M.S. Bharathidasan who was asked to inquire into the case of brutal torture of AJeyaraj and his son Bennicks by the Sathankulam police on June 19 and their subsequent deaths had submitted is report to the High Court.

A woman police constable Revathy, at the Sathankulam police station, in her deposition before Bharathidasan had said that Jeyaraj and Bennicks were beaten with batons throughout the June 19 night.

According to Bharathidasan's report, Revathy also said the victims' blood stains were on the batons of the station police officials and on tables.

She said the batons and the tables should be secured so that the evidence is not lost, the report stated.

Expressing fear that she may be targeted later, Revathy was initially reluctant to sign a printout of her statement but later on being assured of her safety she signed the document.

The court also transferred the probe into the deaths of Jeyaraj and Bennicks to the Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department (CBCID) to gather and protect the evidence till the case is handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The High Court has initiated criminal contempt cases against three police officials - Additional Superintendent of Police Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Prathapan and constable Maharajan - for their behaviour at the Sathankulam police station in front of Magistrate Bharathidasan.

Warangal, May 22: In a shocking incident, bodies of nine migrant workers, including six of a family, were found in a well at Gorrekunta area in the outskirts of Warangal city. Of the nine bodies, four were found on May 21.

"Till now, nine bodies have been found in a well near a gunny bag godown at Gorrekunta area in the outskirts of Warangal city. Of the nine bodies, four were found on May 21 and the rest were found today. As six of the bodies belong to one family, it has led to suspicion," said Dr V Ravinder, Commissioner of Police, Warangal, while speaking to ANI over phone.

"The four bodies that were found yesterday have been identified as Md Maksood (50), his wife Nisha (45), daughter Busra (20) and grandson (3). The five bodies that have been found today have been identified as that of Shabad Alam, son of Maksood, Sohail Alam (Maksood's family member), Shakeel, a family friend of Maksood," he further said.

The bodies have been taken out from the well and sent to MGM Hospital for post mortem.
Minister Errabelli Dayakar, District Collector Harita, Mayor Prakash Rao have visited the spot along with the Warangal Commissioner.

Md Maksood had migrated from West Bengal to Warangal 20 years ago. Since last December, he and his family members have been working in a nearby gunny bag manufacturing unit godown at Gorrekunta. After the lockdown, the family shifted from Warangal and settled down in the factory godown.

According to police, on Thursday noon when the unit owner Santosh came to the godown as part of his daily routine he could not find any of the labourers. Later, he discovered four dead bodies floating in the well.

The Warangal police has registered a case under Section 174 CrPC. They said the exact reason for their deaths will be known only after the investigation.

Hyderabad, MAY 28: A three-year-old boy who accidentally fell into a newly drilled open borewell in Telangana's Medak district was found dead in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

The kid's body was retrieved at around 4 am after a nearly 10 hours' long rescue operation involving different agencies, they said.

"He died a while before we evacuated him, most likely due to the mud that covered him from the top sealing off necessary oxygen supply, " Medak District Superintendent of Police Chandana Deepti told PTI.

The boy had accidentally slipped into the 120- feet borewell at around 5 pm on Wednesday in an agricultural field located in Papannapet mandal of the district when he was walking with his grandfather and father, police earlier said.

As part of rescue efforts, a parallel trench was dug along the borewell hole with the help of earth excavating machines and oxygen was supplied into it, but the efforts went in vain as the boy's body was found stuck at a depth of around 25 feet, the police said.

Apart from the police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were also involved in the rescue operation.

The borewell into which the child fell was one among the three dug by the family since Tuesday night to try and find water for their fields. But none of them yielded any water, police had said.