A police inspector has been suspended here after a 40 year-old man he allegedly roughed up died after setting himself ablaze, police said on Sunday.
The victim, a painter, was jobless due to the lockdown and could not pay rent to his landlord for about three months following which the latter filed a police complaint.
The inspector from Puzhal police limits during inquiry allegedly harassed and roughed up the victim Srinivasan in front of his family following which he attempted self-immolation on Saturday, police said.
He was rushed to a city government hospital but succumbed to the injuries today, they said.
The inspector has since been placed under suspension. PMK founder S Ramadoss slammed the incident and demanded the arrest of the policeman concerned.
Many landlords were compassionate with tenants unable to pay their rent due to the lockdown-triggered job-loss but the house owner in this case making a police complaint was ‘inhuman’ and so was the response of the suspended policeman, he said in a statement.
The PMK leader, whose party is an ally of the ruling AIADMK, demanded the state government pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the family of the victim and bear theeducation expenses of his children.
Source: News18