Tuticorin custodial deaths case: Rajinikanth condemns behaviour of the police in front of judicial magistrate

CHENNAI: Actor Rajinikanth took to Twitter on Wednesday to express his "shock" over how some police officials had behaved with the magistrate in relation to the controversial custodial deaths of father-son duo Jeyaraj and Beniks in Thoothukudi.

He shared a photo of himself along with a short statement in Tamil that can be loosely translated as, "The entire human race condemned the barbaric act of the police who tortured and killed the father and son. I was shocked beyond belief when I heard how a few police officials behaved with the magistrate. The guilty must be punished and should not be spared."

The custodial deaths in Thoothukudi had many celebrities across India expressing their disbelief at the incident and condemning police brutality. Last week, Rajinikanth had spoken to Jeyaraj's wife J Selvarani and offered his heartfelt condolences to his family. On June 28, the actor's publicist Riaz Ahmed took to social media to confirm the same and added that the actor spoke to them over a phone call.

Beniks died at the Kovilpatti General Hospital on June 22 while his father Jeyaraj breathed his last on June 23. The Judicial Magistrate Bharathidasan, who is probing the case, said that the cops in the police station misbehaved with him during investigation.

On Monday, the Madras High Court had initiated contempt proceedings against Deputy Superintendent of Police C Prathapan, Additional Deputy Superintendent of Police D Kumar and police constable Maharajan after a judicial magistrate alleged that they tried to obstruct his inquiry. “You cannot do anything to us,” constable Maharajan had said, according to the magistrate. He also accused one of them of displaying “intimidating, macho body language,” according to PTI.

The Tamil Nadu government has transferred the probe of the Tuticorin custodial death cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation.