Sivaganga custodial death: Madras HC tells CBI to complete investigation by August 20

Wed Jul 09 12:45:50 IST 2025

The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to appoint an investigating officer within a week to look into the custodial death of a temple security guard in Sivaganga, The Hindu reported.

It further ordered that the investigating officer should complete the inquiry into the death of B Ajith Kumar and submit a report to the court that has jurisdiction over the case by August 20.

A division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and AD Maria Clete directed the investigating officer to collect relevant documents, including an inquiry report prepared by a district judge as well as evidence, from the registrar (judicial) of the Madurai Bench of the High Court, Live Law reported.

The court passed the order while hearing a set of public interest litigation petitions related to the case.

The court also instructed the director general of prosecution to ensure that the post-mortem report is submitted before an appropriate court within a week, Live Law reported.

The court directed the inspector general of police (south zone, Madurai) and the superintendents of police of Madurai and Sivaganga districts to fully cooperate with the central probe agency during the investigation.

Besides, the state government was ordered to provide witness protection as per the Witness Protection Scheme.

The state government informed the court that in the interests of transparency, the inquiry...