TIRUNELVELI/MADURAI: A case was registered against seven inmates of Palayamkottai Central Prison on Friday for their involvement in the murder of an undertrial prisoner. The suspects booked by Perumalpuram police are J Jacob (29), G Madasamy (25), S Ram alias Ramamoorthy (24), P Maharaja (28), Santhana Marimuthu alias Kokkikumar, M Kanthasamy (22), and R Arunkumar (22). The under-trial prisoner, Muthu Mano (27), was killed in an alleged caste clash among a few inmates of the prison on Thursday.
On Friday morning, over 100 residents of Vagaikulam and a few people belonging to a particular community staged protest in front of the central prison, pressing for demands including action against the officials responsible, CB-CID probe into the death and security for the people belonging to the community. The protesters said that the prison does not have enough security for the people belonging to their community and that Mano was lodged in a cell with his rivals.
Probe sought
Meanwhile, the father of Mano moved the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday seeking CB-CID probe into his son’s death. The petitioner, A Pavanasam, submitted that Mano was the president of the youth wing of Devendra Kula Vellalar Kootamaippu in Tirunelveli district and was in judicial remand at Srivaikundam sub-jail in an attempt to murder case before being transferred to Palayamkottai Prison.
Pavanasam alleged that though the prisoners are allotted cells in the central prison based on their castes, the prison officials took Mano to a punishment block called ‘A’ block, instead of the Dalit undertrial block. He further claimed that the accused persons, who were in the ‘A’ block, knew about Mano’s transfer in advance. In the petition, Pavanasam sought various reliefs from the court which included directions for judicial inquiry, a CB-CID probe into his son’s death, and invoking SC/ST Act.