A village panchayat chief who beat up a dalit girl with chappals recently at Vadakadu near Alangudi in the district was arrested on Saturday.
The accused R Palanivelu, village panchayat chief of Karu Therkutheru near Alangudi in Karambukudi union in the district, was arrested under the prevention of atrocities against SC/ST’s Act, 1989 by Vadakadu police at Pulichankadu kaikatti following a fruitful tip-off, on Saturday morning.
Earlier, Vadakadu police registered a case against him for assaulting the Dalit girl, who is also an MBA graduate, as she did not stand up to greet him. At that time, the girl was lying in a cot, recuperating from an appendicitis surgery. The caste Hindu panchayat chief had allegedly called the girl by her caste name.
When police filed a case against him, Palanivelu fled from his house. Vadakadu police formed a special team to trace and apprehend him. They finally arrested him on Saturday and remanded him in judicial custody at Pudukkottai district prison after he was produced before the Alangudi court.