The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday directed the CB-CID to file a counter affidavit on the appeals preferred by convict S. Yuvaraj and nine others against a trial court judgment that sentenced them to life imprisonment for the murder of V. Gokulraj, an engineering graduate belonging to the Scheduled Castes, in 2015.
A Division Bench of Justices R. Subramanian and N. Sathish Kumar ordered a notice to the CB-CID and V. Chitra, mother of Gokulraj. The court adjourned the hearing in the case till April 11.
In March 2022, a special court for cases booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Madurai sentenced Yuvaraj, founder of the Theeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai, and nine others to life imprisonment. The trial court acquitted five persons in the murder case. One accused is facing trial in Namakkal and another accused died. The trial court had sentenced the main accused Yuvaraj to triple life imprisonment and said that the sentences would run concurrently. The others were also awarded life sentences.
They were convicted for offences under the Indian Penal Code, including murder, abducting in order to murder and criminal conspiracy and under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
In 2015, the body of Gokulraj was found with his head severed near the railway track in Pallipalayam in Namakkal. He was abducted and murdered by the members of the caste outfit after he was found visiting a temple with a girl belonging to an intermediate community.
