New Delhi, 12 July

The CBI on Saturday booked police personnel in Tamil Nadu's Sivagangai district for murder in connection with the custodial death of temple guard Ajit Kumar and took over the probe, officials said.

The investigation into the matter was transferred to the federal agency by the Tamil Nadu government.

The case was filed under section 103 (murder) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, a spokesperson from the CBI said in a statement.

"The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case on 12 July, 2025, against police personnel of Sivagangai District, Tamil Nadu, in connection with the alleged custodial death of Shri Ajit Kumar, who was posted as a temple guard at Madapuram Temple," the official said.

Kumar, 29, worked as a security guard at the Bhadrakaliamman Temple in Tiruppuvanam.

He was picked up by the police on 27 June for interrogation in connection with a jewel theft case.

The next night, he was declared "brought dead" by police at a government hospital.

The post-mortem, which took nearly three hours, from 5.45 pm on 29 June, revealed that Kumar had about 44 external injuries on his legs, arms, abdomen, and chest – at least 19 of them deep and extended up to muscle.

The death could have occurred about 12-24 hours before post mortem, the report by forensic surgeons of the Madurai Medical College Hospital said, but did not specify the exact cause of death pending further histopathological examination.