The story so far: Nearly six years after the Sattankulam custodial torture deaths of trader P. Jayaraj and his son J. Benicks, the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Madurai will deliver the verdict in the case on March 23, 2026 (Monday). The horrific crime took place in June 2020 in Sattankulam, Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu, during the countrywide COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. It shocked civil society and sparked widespread protests. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court took suo motu cognisance of the crime by the police and passed a slew of directions. The then AIADMK government transferred the probe in the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In all, 10 police personnel were named as accused in the case. One of them died after contracting COVID-19. The CBI has prosecuted nine police personnel. What happened on the day of the incident? On June 19, 2020, Jayaraj, who was in his son Benicks’s mobile phone sales and service showroom, was picked up by the police for allegedly violating COVID-19 lockdown rules. …