Madurai: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday, November 4, rejected petitions filed by four police personnel challenging their judicial remand in the custodial death case of temple security guard B. Ajith Kumar, and directed the trial court to conclude the proceedings within nine months, Nation Press reported. The court found no grounds to interfere with the remand order of the Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai.

Source: Nation Press

The four petitioners are former Manamadurai Deputy Superintendent of Police N. Shanmugasundaram, former Thiruppuvanam Inspector S.P. Ramesh Kumar, Special Sub-Inspector S. Sivakumar and Head Constable G. Ilayaraja. They had challenged a September 16 order remanding them to judicial custody after charges — including murder under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita — were framed against 10 police personnel in total. The petitioners argued that they had appeared before the trial court, cooperated with investigators and had earlier secured judicial protection against arrest.

Counsel for Ajith Kumar's family opposed any relief, arguing that the officers, if released, could influence witnesses and interfere with the trial. The prosecution flagged the withdrawal of police protection for Naveen Kumar, the victim's brother and a crucial witness in the case, as a development underlining the family's fears about witness intimidation.

B. Ajith Kumar, a 29-year-old security guard at the Madapuram Badrakali Amman Temple in Sivaganga district, died on June 28, 2025, after being detained by a special police team probing an alleged jewellery theft. His death triggered widespread outrage over custodial violence in Tamil Nadu, and the state government handed the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The CBI filed its initial chargesheet against six police personnel on August 20, 2025, and a supplementary chargesheet on December 12, 2025, naming four more officers. In earlier proceedings, the CBI told the High Court that the alleged jewellery theft complaint on the basis of which Ajith Kumar was detained had been closed for lack of evidence — in the agency's words, there was nothing in the case in which the guard was beaten to death, ANI reported. The trial court has also recorded allegations that the accused fabricated police records, altered General Diary entries and destroyed mobile phones to suppress evidence; those allegations remain to be proved at trial.

Source: ANI via Webindia123

With the remand upheld, the trial will proceed at the Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai under the nine-month deadline. Attention now turns to whether the timeline is met and whether protection for key witnesses, including Naveen Kumar, is restored and maintained ahead of their testimony.