Kavin honour killing case: State govt moves SC challenging Madras High Court order quashing CB-CID chargesheet

MADURAI: The Tamil Nadu Government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the Madras High Court order quashing the CB-CID charge sheet against the parents of the main accused in the alleged honour killing of Kavin Selvaganesh in Tirunelveli.

On September 29, 2026, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court quashed the charge sheet against Saravanan and Krishnakumari, the parents of main accused Surjith, citing insufficient material.

Kavin’s mother, Tamilselvi, said Law Minister R Nirmal Kumar had spoken to her about the matter. She expressed hope that the government would ensure justice for her son.

Kavin, who belonged to a Scheduled Caste, hailed from Arumugamangalam near Eral in Thoothukudi district. He was in a relationship with S. Subhashini, a Siddha doctor from Tirunelveli. Subhashini’s younger brother Surjith was arrested for Kavin’s murder on July 27, 2025. Police later named Surjith’s parents, Saravanan and Krishnakumari, and his cousin Jeyapaul as co-accused.

According to the CB-CID charge sheet filed before the II Additional District Court for cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Tirunelveli, Saravanan and Krishnakumari, had known about the relationship since 2016-17. Both are police sub-inspectors and have since been suspended.

The charge sheet alleged that Saravanan had cautioned his daughter and spoken to Kavin over the phone in 2018-19.

It further alleged that after the murder, Surjith informed his father, who met him near a college and instructed him to destroy evidence.

The CB-CID also alleged that the couple helped Surjith destroy his clothes and mobile phone and remove the registration number plate of the two-wheeler used in the crime with the help of Jeyapaul, one of the four accused in the case.

However, Justice R Vijayakumar observed that there was no eyewitness, CCTV footage, photograph, video recording or independent witness statement to establish the alleged meeting between Surjith and his parents. Nor was there any recording, transcript, message or other electronic material showing what transpired at the meeting.

The judge noted that the prosecution relied on the fact that the mobile phones attributed to Surjith, Saravanan and Krishnakumari were connected to the same mobile tower during the relevant period. The court held that tower-location data alone could neither establish that the accused were together nor reveal the contents of any conversation.

The court also dismissed a similar petition filed by Jeyapaul, allowing the case against him to proceed. But it granted him conditional bail.