CHENNAI: The prohibition activist Sasi Perumal died when the rope a fireman tied around him, to bring him down from cellphone tower he had climbed during a protest, slipped to his neck and strangulated him, MDMK leader Vaiko argued in the Madras High Court seeking a judicial probe into the death.
The hearing before Justice MM Sundresh on Friday witnessed arguments as the Advocate General AL Somayaji countered the claims of Vaiko with videos and photos of the protest on July 31 at Kanyakumari, where Sasi Perumal died, to assert that Sasi Perumal was himself carrying a rope and tied it around his neck leading to his death.
“Sasi Perumal ligated his neck with rope and tied other end to the tower rod. One Siva Ganesh, Fire and Rescue Services personnel, rushed and climbed over the tower and saw that blood was oozing out from Sasi Perumal’s nose and dripping over his chest,” the advocate general submitted before
the court stressing that no probe other than the investigation by the police was required.
Vaiko however pointed to a lot of injuries on the body of Sasi Perumal and said it showed the haste and negligent manner in which the fire personnel forcibly brought him down.
He said he would not call it a murder but a homicide caused by negligence of officials who were handling the situation.
“Yes, Sasi Perumal was indeed carrying a rope. But that was only to fasten himself to the tower during the protest so that he won’t fall down. The rope that strangulated him was not the one he was carrying with him. But the one the fireman was carrying,” argued Vaiko, seeking a probe monitored by a High Court judge.
The autopsy report had also stated that the death was due to hanging.
Vaiko argued that it was not just the hasty manner in which the fireman tried to bring him down but the lethargy of the officials in pacifying the protest that had to be noted.