VELLORE: Tension prevailed in Chinnavenkatapuram near Ambur after the suicide of a fifty-year-old man belonging to the Vanniya community allegedly after his elder daughter eloped with her lover, a Dalit youth, recently.
Police arrested Dalit youth Sankar, to appease the agitated family members and relatives of Panneerselvam, who committed suicide, on charges of threatening.
In the meantime, Ilavarasi’s elder brother Babu (26) also attempted to immolate himself on the premises of the hospital. However, police personnel on duty prevented it. The incident created further tension.
Police officers said the post-mortem of Panneerselvam was conducted around 6 am and it was videographed. After several hours of talks with the agitators to withdraw the protest and receive his body, Superintendent of Police P Vijayakumar gave an ultimatum that they would hand over the body to the GH mortuary, if they did not receive the body by 8 pm.
“Once they hand over the body to the mortuary, the family members can claim the body through the court,” said a police officer. However, the family members left the hospital around 6 pm without claiming the body. “We have informed the family to receive the body after post-mortem. If they do not collect it, we will inform the executive magistrate and follow legal procedures,” SP Vijayakumar said.
Protection Sought
Meanwhile, Illavarasi and Vignesh were brought to the Judicial Magistrate Court in Ambur amidst tight security around 10.30 am and produced before the magistrate.
At the court, Illavarasi refused to go with her family members and pleaded that the court provide protection for her and her husband Vignesh Kumar (23), an auto driver, on Wednesday.
The girl told the magistrate of court that she did not want to either go with her family members or attend the final rites of her father, who committed suicide on Tuesday. “Illavarasi said Vignesh married her with her willingness. She also pleaded the magistrate to provide them protection from his family and relatives,” said a police officer, quoting the girl. The magistrate directed the police to provide them adequate protection. The police deputed a team of policemen under the DSP of Vaniyambadi Manickam, to extend protection to the couple. They were whisked away from the court premises to an undisclosed place in Vaniyambadi.
Illavarasi, a second year student of a private college in Vaniyambadi, was in love with Vignesh for the last two years. They eloped on Friday last and got married. Sources said, Vignesh’s friends helped the two elope and get married.
The girl’s father Panneerselvam had filed a missing case with the Ombarbad Police after his frantic search for his daughter ended in vain. On learning about the wedding of his daughter with her lover of the SC community, Panneerselvam committed suicide by consuming pesticide on Tuesday.
The family members asked the girl to attend her father’s funeral. However, she feared and sought protection, said sources. Relatives and the PMK State-level functionary T K Raja asked the girl’s mother Selvi to file a complaint stating that Vignesh and his friends threatened Panneerselvam and provoked him to commit suicide, claimed the source.
T K Raja, State deputy general secretary of PMK, denied the charges. “We do not have any intention to give a political colour to the death of the girl’s father. Police failed to take action despite the complaint filed by Selvi,” Raja told Express.