CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday upheld the life sentence of 8 accused, including Yuvaraj, in the sensational murder case of Salem-based youth V Gokulraj that stormed the state in 2015. The court altered the charges against 2 accused to 5 years imprisonment.

While delivering its verdict, the court said: “The accused in this case were under the influence of a demon called caste.”

A Madurai Special Court on March 8, 2022, sentenced the main accused, S Yuvraj, a caste outfit offender and the founder of Theeran Chinnamalai Counter Assembly, along with nine other convicts of the murder for life imprisonment.

The case dates back to seven years when the decapitated body of a Dalit youth, named V Gokulraj was found near a railway track in the Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu in 2015.