Dalit murdered by fellow worker, cop who tried to broker peace suspended

Learning about the incident, Manikandan’s family and villagers carried his body to the police station and staged a protest demanding justice.

PERAMBALUR: Tense moments prevailed at Kai Kalathur on Friday after a Dalit employed as a harvester machine operator in a farm was allegedly murdered by a fellow worker over previous enmity. The murder took place even as a head constable was brokering peace between the two. With relatives of the deceased and villagers resorting to a protest with the body in front of the police station, the head constable was placed under suspension while the accused was arrested, sources said.

M Manikandan (32) of Kai Kalathur, who worked as a machine operator in the fields of S Arun in the same locality, was at loggerheads with fellow worker P Devendran (30), a caste Hindu, over personal issues. At the behest of Manikandan, who is from the SC community, head constable Sridhar attached to Kai Kalathur police station accompanied him on Friday morning to Arun’s field where Devendran was present.

The head constable then informally tried to iron out Devendran’s differences with Manikandan. Midway through the talks, Devendran, who was inebriated, fatally attacked Manikandan, sources said.

Learning about the incident, Manikandan’s family and villagers carried his body to the police station and staged a protest demanding justice.

The protest intensified when some of them pelted stones at the police station. Following this, the police station was locked, and over 100 personnel were deployed on the premised to manage the situation.

District Revenue Officer M Vadivel Prabu, Tiruchy range DIG Varun Kumar and Perambalur SP Adarsh Pachera held peace talks with the protesters. The protesters, however, refused to relent and continued their protest for over four hours, affecting traffic in the stretch, sources added.

The Perambalur SP told TNIE that Sridhar was placed under suspension. Further a case has been registered, including under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, against Devendran and he has been arrested, he added.

Courtesy: New Indian Express

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