A fact-finding team that probed the murder of Narasimhamoorthy, President of Tharavendiram panchayat in Krishnagiri and a Dalit, have questioned claims made by the police that he was killed following a financial dispute. Narasimhamoorthy, who hails from a Scheduled Caste Comminity was murdered on August 2 this year. The report says the lain panchayat president was considered hard working and not corrupt by residents.
His body was found by his nephew Venkatesh near his native village PP Palayam. Two sons of panchayat Vice-president Jakkama – Krishna and Shankar – panchayat Secretary Prasanna, and eleven others surrendered before the police shortly after. Though the motive for the murder as claimed by the police is that Narasimhamoorthy was murdered by family members of the panchayat vice-president because of financial disputes in an alleged land deal, a fact finding report by Evidence, an NGO based in Madurai, has challenged this version.
Initially, the police said that the panchayat leader was murdered because of a dispute regrarding monetary transactions in the sale of a parcel of land. Krishna and Shankar, who belong to the Gowda community, had sold their land to AVS Quarries for Rs 15 lakh many years ago. The sellers, allegedly, asked Narasimhamoorthy to negotiate with AVS Quarries to give them a higher price for their land. Krishna and Shankar claimed that the panchayat president was able to negotiate successfully and collected the money but did not hand it over to them, which was the motive behind the murder.
This story was originally published in thenewsminute.com . Read the full story here