CHENNAI: More than three years after the mysterious death of Dalit youth Ilavarasan, the first bench of the Madras High Court closed the matter on Tuesday, accepting the CB-CID’s submission that he committed suicide.
In 2012, after Ilavarasan married a caste Hindu girl, violence broke out in three colonies in Dharmapuri. A year later, on July 4, 2013, the boy was found dead near a railway track.
When the petition from Ilavarasan’s father Elangovan of Natham Colony in Dharmapuri district seeking transfer of the case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising outstation officials came up before the bench of Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice R Mahadevan, the CB-CID filed a report stating that Ilavarasan had committed suicide.
Last year, in the first week of November, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Harur, had submitted a report claiming that Ilavarasan had committed suicide in an inebriated condition, as he was distressed over the failure of his marriage with Divya, a Vanniyar girl. Nobody could be blamed for the suicide, the report had added.
According to petitioner, after his son married Divya and her father committed suicide, caste Hindus unleashed violence on Dalits living in three colonies in Dharmapuri district in November 2012. Nearly 400 houses were torched and property worth several lakhs damaged.
On July 4, 2013, his son was found dead near a railway track. After he moved the court, a second post-mortem was conducted. While so, on July 7, 2013, the Superintendent of Police informed the media that Illavarasan’s death was one of suicide. This created serious doubts in the fairness of investigation conducted by local police. Investigation has not been done properly.
Therefore, to unearth the truth, scientific and fair investigation was required, the petitioner had said.