VILLUPURAM: An eight-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly beaten to death while his 14-year-old old sister and mother were critically injured, in what seems to have been an attempt to rape the schoolgirl, on Thursday. This seems to be third incident with caste undertones this year within the Arakandanallur police station limits.
According to sources, Nalini (name changed, 45), a widow, and her two minor children were residing in a row house near a farm plot in Vellamputhur village. Her other four children had been eking out a living in Bengaluru and Tirupur as labourers ever since the death of their father four years ago.
The daughter was reportedly a Class VIII student at a government school at T Devanur while the son was a Class IV student at a government primary school in Vellamputhur.
The incident came to light in the early hours on Thursday when people passing by the family’s house heard moans coming from the house. Inside they found the eight-year-old boy dead, with injury marks on the body, while the girl and her mother were barely alive. The young girl was found in a state of undress — leading to the suspicion that she was raped. The locals informed the Arakandanallur police and rushed the injured to government Tirukoilur hospital, from where they were referred to the government Villupuram medical college and hospital (GVMCH).
A police team from the Arakandanallur station, headed by inspectors Jeyavel and Rathinasabapathi are probing the case. The boy’s body was taken to Mundiyambakkam for autopsy.