Tea master at TN's Pudukkottai bakery beats SC co-worker to death; 2 arrested
Ramachandran complained that Jagadeesh told him that customers from dominant communities were upset by his presence and threatened him to stop reporting for work.
Published: 18th November 2023 07:07 AM | Last Updated: 18th November 2023 07:07 AM | A+A A-
Image for representational purposes. (File Photo)
PUDUKKOTTAI: A 24-year-old man, who allegedly harassed and assaulted to death his 40-year-old co-worker at a bakery at Embal in the district over his caste identity, was arrested and remanded in judicial custody on Thursday. A friend of the accused who allegedly abetted the crime was remanded with him.
The deceased has been identified as Ramachandran C of Devakottai taluk in Sivaganga district. Ramachandran, who hailed from the SC community, was a tea master at the bakery in Embal until last month when he returned to his native complaining to his family about his co-worker, Jagadeesh alias Rengaiyah M. Ramachandran complained that Jagadeesh, a caste Hindu who was also a tea master at the bakery, told him that customers from dominant communities were upset by his presence and threatened him to stop reporting for work. Jagadeesh also had threatened Ramachandran against disclosing the matter to the bakery owner, the police said.
The bakery owner, however, called Ramachandran back for work during Deepavali owing to staff crunch. On the night of November 14, after work hours, Jagadeesh and his friend Subramanian alias Visu (33) allegedly beat Ramachandran to death. According to a police complaint lodged by Ramachandran’s wife, he and the accused were drunk at the time of the assault. Locals who spotted a severely injured Ramachandran, admitted him to the government hospital in Aranthangi, where he succumbed later that night.
Following a post-mortem at Pudukkottai Government Medical College Hospital, Ramachandran’s body was handed over to his family. Based on his wife’s complaint, the Embal police on Wednesday registered a case against the accused under Sections 302 (murder) and 294b (obscene acts) of the IPC and provisions under the SC/ST PoA Act, and arrested and judicially remanded them to the district jail on Thursday.
