CHENNAI: Senior advocate Bhavani Mohan, who has appeared for victims in several cases related to caste atrocities, has alleged that the Pallikaranai police was “purposefully” going slow in its investigation into the alleged caste killing of SC youth Praveen in February and also claimed the hand of some ruling party leaders in this .
Mohan, who is counsel for the victim’s family, demanded the case be transferred to an investigating agency like the CB-CID or the CBI.
Praveen was murdered on February 24 allegedly by a gang, which included his brother-in-law, after he married Sharmila, a woman from OBC (Yadava) community in October 2023. A case under Sections including the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act has been filed against them. Sharmila died by suicide on April 22.
“The police is deliberately going slow so that the accused can get statutory bail if the chargesheet is not filed after 90 days. They did not provide protection to the couple or to the family after Praveen’s death. Some DMK leaders are supporting the accused,” Mohan said, adding that Sharmila’s father Durai Kumar is a DMK functionary. Calling the police investigation tardy, he said the cops had just recorded statements and not conducted a probe as per the SC/ST PoA Act. He charged the police had intimidated Sharmila while recording her statement.
DMK spokesperson R S Bharathi denied the allegations and said action would be taken against any wrong-doer irrespective of party affiliation.