TENKASI: A 65-year-old farmer, accused of installing illegal electric fence in his farmland, died allegedly while in the custody of Kadayam Forest Range officials here on Wednesday night.
The deceased has been identified as Anaikaraimuthu of Vakaikulam village. The son of the deceased farmer A Natarajan said in his petition to the Alwarkurichi police that five forest officials came to his house in a jeep around 11.30 pm on Wednesday and took his father to the forest office in Sivasailam. "After some time, when my relative Arumugakumar and one Durai and I were heading to the forest office, we found the forest officials taking my father, who was unconscious at the time, to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Kadayam," he said. Natarajan further said that the doctor at the PHC had checked his father and found that he had no pulse. "The officials took my father to the Government Headquarters Hospital in Tenkasi around 1.30 pm on Thursday and the doctors at the hospital confirmed that my father was brought dead," he said. Claiming that his father died as he was brutally beaten up by the forest officials, Natarajan, in his petition, urged the police to take necessary action against the forest officials concerned.
Meanwhile, on Thursday morning, the relatives of the deceased staged a dharna in front of the Alwarkurichi police station demanding action against the forest officials. Alangulam MLA and former minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna, who also took part in the protest, demanded the police to get her the report of the Magistrate who conducted an inquiry with the forest officials. The relatives of the deceased called off their protest only after Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Tenkasi, Golulakrishnan, and DSP (in-charge) of Alangulam, Balaji, conducted a peace talk with them. The body of the deceased was taken to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital for postmortem examination.
The autopsy will be conducted in the presence of the Magistrate. When contacted, Deputy Director of Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Kommu Omkar, told TNIE that he was informed that the forest officials had not even touched Anaikaraimuthu while the farmer was in their custody. "The death of the sexagenarian is an unfortunate incident. He was taken for an inquiry for installing the electric fence. The officials of TANGEDCO were also accompanying the forest officials at the time. Since Anakaraimuthu felt uneasy, the forest officials tried to save his life by taking him to the hospital. We have nothing to hide. We can come to a conclusion only after the postmortem report is out. If the forest officials had done anything wrong, appropriate action will be taken," he added.