Andiyappanur villagers squatted on the Tirupattur-Alangayam Road on Sunday demanding proper inquiry into the death of 9-year-old Gayathri, who was found murdered in a banana plantation in the village on Thursday night.
They staged a road-roko for more than five hours alleging that police had tried to cover up the case and did not arrest 18- year-old Vimal (name changed), who they claimed was also involved in the case. The protestors claimed that the girl was sexually assaulted before being murdered. The protest continued from 10 am to 2 pm.
Gayathri was found murdered on Thursday night with head injuries and contusions on her face and abdomen. The police had picked Guna, Vimal and three others on suspicion. On interrogation, Guna confessed to the crime and said he was in an inebriated condition when he had murdered the girl.
The post-mortem report had also showed no signs of sexual assault and that the girl had died of injuries to internal organs in the abdomen. Based on the report and Guna’s confession, police registered a case of 302 (murder) of IPC and remanded Guna. The police registered a case against Vimal under section 379 (theft) of IPC and remanded him in the Borstal School. Agitated over the fact that police had not included Vimal’s name, villagers submitted a requisition asking inclusion of Vimal. “The villagers were agitated after learning that Vimal was released,” said panchayat president of Andiyappanur, Sathiyamoorthy.
The police submitted the requisition to Judicial Magistrate Court-I of Tirupattur to include Vimal’s name, DSP of Tirupattur, M Nagarajan, said.
The police altered the case against Vimal under section of 379 of IPC to 302. “Vimal was not at the scene of crime. We told the villagers but they didn’t understand. They pressurised us to add his name and submitted a petition,” a police source said.