Madras HC
Ajith Kumar, who worked as a security guard at the Batharakaliamman temple in Madapuram, died during custodial interrogation on June 28, 2025, according to the prosecution. Justice P Murugan dismissed petitions filed by four police personnel — then Manamadurai DSP Shanmugasundaram, then Thiruppuvanam inspector of police Ramesh Kumar, then sub-inspector Sivakumar and then head constable Ilayaraja — challenging the court’s order remanding them to judicial custody. Police had picked him up for questioning in connection with an alleged theft of gold jewellery from a car owned by Nikitha of Madurai district. She and her mother had visited the temple the previous day. The state government transferred the custodial death case and the connected jewellery theft case to the CBI, which arrested six police personnel — Prabhu, Kannan, Sankaramanikandan, Raja, Ananth and Ramachandran, the driver of the van in which Ajith Kumar was transported. Subsequently, it filed a supplementary chargesheet naming four more police personnel — then Manamadurai DSP Shanmugasundaram, then Thiruppuvanam inspector of police Ramesh Kumar, then sub-inspector Sivakumar and then head constable Ilayaraja — as accused in the case, in addition to the six personnel already arrested.
Initially, the CBI filed its final report before the fifth additional district and sessions court in Madurai against six police personnel.
MADURAI: The Madras high court on Wednesday directed the trial court to complete the trial within nine months in the case relating to the custodial death of Madapuram temple security guard B Ajith Kumar in Thiruppuvanam, Sivaganga district, in 2025.