CHENNAI: In a case of murder for caste pride, a 22-year-old Dalit youth was hacked to death allegedly by a five-member gang, which included the brother-in-law of the deceased, near a bar in Pallikaranai of Chennai on Saturday night. All the accused were arrested the next day.
The deceased, G Pravin alias Ashiq of Pallikaranai, was a bike mechanic who started working with his father Gopi soon after his schooling. Pallikaranai police said Pravin and D Sharmila (20) of Jalladianpet, now a fourth-year student at a private college, were in a relationship from their school days. While Pravin was from the Adi Dravidar community of the Scheduled Castes, Sharmila belongs to the Yadava community which is an Other Backward Caste. The couple married despite her parents’ opposition in October last.
Sharmila told reporters that her family had been threatening the couple since their marriage. She said her parents had filed a case against Pravin alleging he had abducted her and when the couple went to the police station to clarify she had consented to the marriage, her brother threatened to kill them. However, a senior police official added the deceased was also an accused in a 2022 murder of a ganja peddler and the angle that this murder was committed in retaliation could not be dismissed as three of the accused were associates of the slain peddler.
‘Who gave brother right to kill my husband’
The primary accused — Sharmila’s brother — D Dinesh (23) of Jalladianpet, N Sriram (18), S Vishnu Raj (25), R Stephen Kumar (24), and B Jothi Lingam (25) were nabbed by a special team of Tambaram City police.
According to police, around 9 pm on Saturday, when Pravin had gone out to buy dinner for his family, he received a call from Sriram, a friend, who asked him to come to a location. There, he was surrounded by the gang which allegedly hacked him with knives. When he collapsed in a pool of blood, the gang fled the scene. A passerby informed the police and rushed Pravin to Chromepet Government Hospital where he was declared dead. Pallikaranai police recovered his body and sent it for postmortem. The body was later handed over to his family.
A police source said that Sriram, who was close with Pravin and knew his whereabouts, had tipped off the gang and helped them in the murder. “We are yet to confirm when and how Dinesh, Sriram, and others got together to plot the murder. An inquiry is under way,” said a senior police officer. A case was filed under Section 302 (Murder) of the IPC and 3 (2) (V) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. After an inquiry, all five were remanded in judicial custody.
Speaking to media persons at her in-law’s house in Pallikaranai, Sharmila said, “As caste was a problem for my family, we eloped and had a self-respect marriage five months back. At the time, at the police station, my elder brother Dinesh had threatened to kill both of us or just Pravin. Who is he (Dinesh) to interfere in my life? I was happily married. Who gave him the right to kill my husband?” an anguished Sharmila asked.
Reiterating that Sharmila’s family had threatened to kill Pravin at the time of their marriage, Kaviarasu, uncle of the deceased, told TNIE, “Two months ago, they (Sharmila’s family) had come to Pravin’s house and created a ruckus. Additionally, Sharmila’s father and brother had threatened the couple when Pravin went to drop her off at the college.”
Pravin’s father Gopi is still in shock at his son’s death and could be heard cursing the caste system and the murderers. “My son went to buy dinner and hasn’t returned yet,” he was heard saying repeatedly near the mortuary.