Tamil Nadu trader P Jeyaraj and his son J Benicks were beaten so severely by police that there were blood stains on the canes and the table on which the two was clubbed,  a head constable of Sathankulam police station told the magistrate on June 28.

On June 19, Jeyaraj and Benicks were arrested by the police for keeping their mobile phones retail shop open beyond the stipulated hours and allegedly beaten mercilessly through the night. They died four days later on June 23 in a hospital with their family members alleging torture in custody.

Head constable Revathy’s statement was submitted by the magistrate in a four-page report to the Madurai bench of Madras High Court.

The death of the duo in police custody has created ripples beyond the state of Tamil Nadu with thousands taking to social media to label the atrocity as India’s own George Floyd, the unarmed black man who was throttled to death on May 25 in full public view by a white cop in Minneapolis of the US, triggering a wave of protests across the globe.

The constable was a key witness to the torture. A division bench of justices P N Prakash and B Pugalendhi of Madras High Court directed that she should depose under section 164 of The Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 before a magistrate.

According to the CrPC code the magistrate who records a statement has to send it to the magistrate who would conduct the hearing.

According to The Times of India the cop had to depose in very trying circumstances with her colleagues trying to hinder the proceedings despite being told to wait outside the police station at a distance. While one constable refused to hand over the stick with which he apparently beat the duo, another escaped from the inquiry.

The high court bench directed that the deponent and her family members should be given protection and she could even be given leave since she might come under pressure to withdraw the statement she gave.

According to the ToI report, magistrate Bharathidasan mentioned in his report to the court that there was an air of panic at the police station when the statement was recorded.

The magistrate also reportedly observed that the CCTV hard disk was so configured that despite having sufficient space the day’s footage was deleted.

The CB-CID has now arrested sub-inspector Raghu Ganesh and booked six people on murder charges.