MADURAI: A vacation bench of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday restrained Pudukkottai police from filing final report in a case pertaining to the death of a Scheduled Caste youth under suspicious circumstances in Pudukkottai on April 23.
A bench of justices P Velmurugan and C Kumarappan gave the direction on a PIL filed by the district coordinator of Neelam Panpattu Maiyam of Pudukkottai, K Muruganandam, seeking CB-CID probe into the youth’s death alleging that it was a case of honour killing.
According to Muruganandam, the deceased R Hariharan (20) was in a consensual relationship with a caste Hindu girl and the couple had eloped in November 2025. Based on a complaint, they were later traced by the Keeranur police and were reunited with their respective parents. However, Muruganandam alleged that after the incident, Hariharan was constantly receiving threats from the girl’s family. He further claimed on April 21, 2026, Hariharan left his house after receiving a call from the girl that her parents were forcibly arranging her marriage with someone else. He did not return home that night. Instead, his body was found in a quarry two days later with external injuries, Muruganandam added.
Though the family members demanded registration of a murder case against the girl’s family, the Vellanur police are trying to rule out Hariharan’s death as a suicide, Muruganandam further claimed and requested the court to transfer the investigation to the CBCID. Hearing the plea, judges directed the police to file a counter affidavit at the next hearing in two weeks, adding that they should not file a final report till then.
