The mysterious death of a eighty-five-year-old Vanniyar woman triggered communal tension near Tharamangalam. However, police and revenue officials intervened and quelled the violence.
Kalliamma, wife of late Periyannan, a farmer, had been cultivating five acres of government poromboke land for the past fifty years at Semedu, a village eight kilometres from Tharamangalam.
Kalliamma had been paying land use tax to the Revenue department in the name of her husband. But in the last two years, the department stopped receiving revenue from her because the Vanniyar and Dalit communities were vying for the land and had applied to the department to get the land under the free patta scheme.
Four days back, a groups of persons from Vanniyar and Dalit communities put up temporary sheds on the land, to which Kalliamma had objected. Following this, she was found dead in a bush in Chenneri on Tuesday.
The police recovered the body and began investigations.
On Wednesday, the members of the Vanniyar community alleged foul play in Kalliamma’s death. They demanded a fair inquiry. The Dalits also held a protest calling the death a conspiracy to prevent the land from being given to them.
Meanwhile, police and revenue officials held talks with both Vanniyars and Dalits and assured them of a fair and quick investigation.
Police booked a case of suspicious death and began investigations.