COIMBATORE: The 24-year-old disabled youth who had been reported missing from a care home in Pollachi was beaten to death by the trustees and staff at the facility on May 12, Coimbatore district rural police revealed on Saturday. Police arrested four people in connection with the murder.
Police exhumed the body of the young man, SR Varunkanth, from the farmland owned by the trust at S Nagoor near Nadupuni in Pollachi in the presence of the Pollachi sub-collector in-charge and the tahsildar and handed it over to his parents after postmortem on Saturday evening.
Varunkanth hailed from Karavali Mathappur in Sulur Block. According to the FIR registered based on his parents’ complaint, he had Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
T Ravikumar and Banumathi had admitted their son at the Yuthira Charitable Trust (Special Children Care and Training Centre) at Rathinasabapathy Puram in Pollachi in February. They had approached the police after the home claimed that Varunkanth had gone missing during the home’s outing to Aliyar Dam on May 15.
Police on Saturday said that, in fact, the youth had been murdered and buried on May 12.
“The trustees refused to take Varunkanth to a theme park in Mettupalayam, claiming that he was not obeying them. They took the other inmates and left him alone at the home.
"This has caused the youth a lot of embarrassment and he apparently behaved aggressively. The trustees and staff at the home got angry and started beating him with cricket bats and plastic pipes. They continued assaulting the youth, till he fell unconscious and died,” a senior police official said.
The suspects then allegedly wrapped the body in a plastic cover and transported it by auto to the farmland. There they dug at least five pits before burying the body and planting a sapling over the site, police said. To mask any odours, they sprayed cow dung mixed with water after burying him, police added.
To cover up the murder, the trustees and staff told Varunkanth’s parents that he had gone missing during a trip to Aliyar Dam on May 15. Aliyar police, investigating the father’s missing person complaint, found no evidence that Varunkanth had gone to Aliyar and suspicion turned to the home instead.
The four people arrested were identified as Giriram (36), a trustee and a native of Tiruvannamalai, Senthil Babu (54), father of another trustee from Pollachi, Nithish (26), staff at the home, and Ranganayaki (36), a cook at the home.
“We are also searching for the few others in connection with the murder, including Shaji and Dr Kavitha, trustees of the home,” said a police officer. Sources said over 10 persons could have been involved in the murder and cover-up.
Meanwhile, the district differently-abled welfare department investigated the functioning of the home and found they had collected excessive amounts as fees and donations.
The department has begun a safety audit at all homes and schools where persons with disabilities reside and study in the district. According to sources, the parents of inmates at Yuthira were charged Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 per month and up to Rs 1 lakh as donations. The facility has been shut and inmates shifted out.