One of the key witnesses in the Sathankulam custodial death, a woman constable Revathi, testified before Judge Nagalakshmi in the First Additional Court of Madurai District on Friday, December 16. She was testifying in the case of the custodial deaths of father and son Jayaraj and Bennix, who were tortured and killed in the Sathankulam police station in Thoothukudi district in June 2020. Thirty-seven-year-old Revathi was testifying for the second day in court. She was shown the CCTV footage near Jayaraj’s shop from June 19 from where the father and son were taken to the police station. She was also shown the footage of them being taken to the Sathankulam hospital the next day for examination.

The CCTV footage showed Jayaraj, Bennix’s’ father, standing outside his shop when the three policemen, Balakrishnan, Muthuraj and Sridhar took him in their vehicle. Hearing about his father being taken away in the vehicle, Bennix and his friends followed them. Other footage that was shown to the witness included being taken to the government hospital the next day. While Jayaraj and Bennix were in good health when they went to the police station, the footage showed that they were unable to walk and their clothes were blood-stained, the following day. Reports say that Revathi confirmed the CCTV footage that was shown to her. The next court hearing is expected to be on Tuesday, December 20.

When Revathi came forward to testify as an eyewitness against the accused in July 2020, she received immense support on social media. However, when TNM spoke to her earlier, she said she was afraid that she might face backlash from her superiors because of the publicity she received. She further added that she did not want her statement to the Kovilpatti magistrate to be made public.