KARUR: Tense moments prevailed at the collectorate on Monday when a man attempted self-immolation alleging he was being targetted for marrying a girl belonging to a different caste. K Saravanan (27) Gandhi Road in Chinnadharapuram village is a daily wage labourer. He fell in love with Akila (21) of Tiruchy and married her three years ago. They are from different castes and the couple has a two-year-old son.
A few of Saravanan relatives and some villagers did not approve of the marriage and abused him and his family for it. They had been allegedly spreading lies that Akila was a Dalit and demanded Saravanan to prove her identity. Saravanan refused.
Muthusamy, his relative and a few villagers lodged a complaint against Saravanan and allegedly persuaded officials to demolish Saravana’s house, which he had been living in for the past two decades. The land on which Saravanan’s house was built was said to be public land. Due to this, officials demolished a part of the house a couple of months ago.
Saravanan and his family were living in the remaining part of his house, officials recently told him to vacate the premises in the next 15 days so the property could be completely demolished. Frustrated by this, he arrived at the collectorate and tried to self-immolate.