MAYILADUTHURAI: K Kalyanakumar (50), a daily wager, was lying near his house at Muttam in the district that night, heavily sloshed after consuming the liquor allegedly smuggled into the village from Puducherry’s Karaikal. His neighbours attempted to wake him up and tell him the dreadful news. But he never came to his senses till morning, when he finally learnt his elder son K Harish (20) had been stabbed to death by an inebriated group.
“My son was growing frustrated seeing his father and his uncle drinking all the time, not earning income and abusing family members. He wanted the liquor menace to end. We never knew he would pay such a price,” K Rama (40), Harish’s mother cried.
Both Kalyanakumar and his brother Vijayakumar stopped drinking, out of guilt, at least temporarily since.
“Harish and I were part of a group called ‘Muttam Ilaignar Ani’ (Muttam youth group) which voiced for social causes. We complained to various officials in the revenue and police departments about illegal liquor smuggling. They did not act,” said a youth on condition of anonymity.
Rama’s family built a small concrete house with an asbestos roof with loans. After securing a diploma in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from a private college, Harish went to Chennai to work as an electrician. His younger brother K Ajay (19), a Class 12 dropout, started to work as a welder.
“My son (Harish) was sending Rs 12,000 out of his monthly earnings of ‘15,000 and was helping us pay off our debts for six months. We don’t know what we will do,” Rama sighed.
On the night of February 14, Harish, Ajay and their friends Harisakthi (20) and R Dinesh (28) were scrolling through their mobile phones at a street corner where network connectivity was better.
“Suddenly, women part of the liquor smuggling racket came swearing at us, threatening us with dire consequences. Minutes later, a group of men came brandishing knives at us,” Ajay said. In an ensuing scuffle, Harish was stabbed in the abdomen and Harisakthi in the buttocks while Ajay’s left thumb was slashed. The perpetrators then fled.
Bleeding profusely while disembowelled, Harish was helped by Ajay towards his house. While people gathered, Harish asked his mother not to approach him, concerned that she would be frightened. The neighbours called for an ambulance, which never arrived in the remote village. Harish died while being taken to the hospital on a motorcycle.
Three residents - M Mooventhan (24), his brother M Thangadurai (28) and his relative R Rajkumar (24) - were arrested for the murders. Mooventhan’s parents S Munusamy (47) and M Manjula (48) were arrested as well for “instigation”, as was K Sanjay (22) for allegedly harbouring the offenders. Thangadurai and Rajkumar already have cases against them under the Prohibition Act.
While people were tending to Harish after the assault, Harisakthi lay a few metres away in the dark, unconscious and bleeding. “We knew only an hour later that my son was lying badly injured. He would have lived on if he had been rushed sooner,” Gowri (40), Harisakthi’s mother, said. The family resides in a rented house in Srinivasapuram.
Harisakthi was into the third year of his engineering course in a college near Kumbakonam. His father K Balamurugan works as a priest in a temple for a monthly income of Rs 4,500. The family is now concerned about the future of their daughter Sandhiya, a Class 12 student, who aspires to pursue medical studies.
Meanwhile, the Mayiladuthurai police maintain the murders were outcomes of disputes within the accused Mooventhan’s family, in which fellow local Dinesh was targeted and the murdered youths were accidentally assaulted. “We know why my brother was killed. He was killed for exposing the liquor menace,” Ajay said.
After multiple protests by families, district SP G Stalin in a later press conference assured to investigate the angle.