Death of a Dalit youth has stirred a controversy in Kanniyakumari after his relatives alleged foul play and refused to receive his body for the second day on Tuesday.
While police insisted that the young man had ended his life, his relatives continue to maintain that he was killed because he was in a love with a caste Hindu woman.
The youth, S. Sureshkumar, was from Thovalai and the last time he was seen was in a garden near Kattuputhur, the native village of the girl on Monday. He was first taken to a private hospital and later to the Government Medical College Hospital, Asaripallam, where he died.
According to his family members, the girl’s family rejected the marriage and filed a complaint in the Boothapandi police station. While the family of Sureshkumar appeared for police inquiry, he did not turn up. When searched, he was found in an unconscious state.
Sureshkumar’s brother Suman Ananath in his complaint had alleged that there were injuries in his neck and leg. “He had been subjected to attack and later forced to drink poison,” he alleged.
The issue attracted a lot of attention after posters with the photographs of Sureshkumar and the woman appeared on social media and locally.
“He was vexed because their love affair could not end in marriage. When his relatives suspected foul play, we decided to conduct the postmortem in their presence. The postmortem report clearly says that he has consumed poison,” said V. Badri Narayanan, Superintendent of Police, Kanniyakumari district.
He said the police would take into consideration all the facts submitted by his family while investigating the matter further.
This story first appeared on thehindu.com