MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday ordered the state government to file a report over the alleged murder of a 51-year-old man by forest officials on October 28 in Theni district. Justice G Ilangovan made the direction, in a petition filed by the deceased’s daughter E Vinothini (29) of Kullapagavandanpatti in Uthamapalayam.
In the petition, Vinothini said forest official Thirumurugan shot her father Eswaran to death. “He used to seek help from my father. When forest officials spoke in a derogatory language, he told them not to speak like that and not to seek help from him. However, the forest officials continued to trouble my father and he continually refused. Since then, they used to conspire against him and issue life threats,” read the petition.
Vinothini added that when her father was watering the garden on October 28 night, forest officials comprising Thirumurugan, Pitchchai, Muralidharan, George alias Ponnikutty, Prabhu, Suman, Eswaran, Karthik and Santhana Kumar forcefully dragged him inside the reserve forest and shot him dead.
Based on the incident, she submitted a petition to Theni SP, who refused to accept it. To her shock, an FIR was registered against her father under various sections including 307 IPC section. In the FIR, it was mentioned that the officials went to the spot after receiving an information about hunting of wild animals by unidentified people. They nabbed Eswaran, who was later shot to death, due to his alleged attempt to murder the officials, said Vinothini.
The petitioner said a deceased person cannot be named as accused under IPC 307 and that the inquiry done by the police is against law. If a person was caught, then it falls under the definition of custody. Therefore the officers had to produce him but he was encountered, she added. The case was adjourned to November 20.