Six people have been arrested so far over the murders of two Dalit men on Wednesday.
Three days after the murder of two Dalit men in Ranipet, their kin and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) members are continuing their protest on Saturday. The family members in Ranipet are staging a protest, refusing to receive the body, seeking compensation of Rs 1 crore and a government job for the nearest kin. VCK members headed by party chief Thol Thirumavalavan staged a protest at Valluvar Kottam in Chennai seeking the arrest of the accused under Goondas Act.
Speaking at the protest on Saturday, Thirumavalavan said, “AIADMK district office-bearer Palani’s son is having a connection to the murder and the remaining accused are from PMK. They have campaigned for PMK in the elections and no one can deny this. The accused persons are instilled with a casteist mindset even while growing up.”
“The accused stabbed Surya near his heart and did not leave with that. He also dropped a stone on his head while he fell on the ground. Is this not a planned murder? Was he still under the influence of alcohol? How can they think of murdering someone for a verbal fight? This is a murder motivated by AIADMK and PMK members since the duo were from Dalit communities,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, the protests are continuing in Ranipet with the kin refusing to receive the body until their demands are met. VCK spokesperson Vikraman said, “The postmortems were conducted without the consent of the parents in a hurry. There is no clarity on who gave the permission to conduct them. So, the protest will continue till our demands are met.”
“We want the kin to be given compensation of Rs 1 crore and a government job. Two separate FIRs should be filed and rigorous punishment should be given to the accused. This is not just a double-murder but a caste-based killing so the two deaths should be dealt as seperate deaths and action must be taken,” he said.
On Wednesday night, two Dalit men–Suriya and Arjunan–were murdered allegedly by a gang of dominant caste members in Soganur. While the two Dalit members were going by a bike, they reportedly waved their hands at the gang of Vanniyar community members thinking that it was their friends. However, the dominant caste members took offence and an argument broke out. Soon the dominant community members came to the spot with weapons and allegedly unleashed violence.
While the police are denying any political motive behind the attack, the VCK members alleged that the murder was done for political reasons. VCK’s Union secretary Bakiyaraj had earlier told TNM that there was previous enmity between the two groups, as Dalits had complained about sand mining in the area. He said this was exacerbated during the elections as Suryia, who is a VCK member, and Arjunan campaigned for the party candidate.
The police on Friday arrested two more members in connection with the crime, taking the total number of persons held to six. One of those arrested has been identified as Karthi, who is the son of AIADMK district office-bearer.
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Source: The News Minute