Ganesh Kendale
VELLORE: A DMK functionary’s son, reported missing since Saturday, was found dead on a neighbour’s farmland at Pernampet in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore on Tuesday. His feet were entangled in an iron wire and there were injuries to the head.
Family claimed that this comes in the wake of complaints that the deceased, S Prasanth, and his father K Srinivasan, had lodged with police and the collectorate about large-scale illegal sand mining near their farm.Srinivasan, a functionary of Pernampet’s DMK unit, is a govt contractor from Pandalathotti.
His family had lodged a ‘missing person’ complaint with the Pernampet police on Saturday. When they found his body on Tuesday, his relatives, friends and others gathered in large numbers and prevented a police team from recovering it. They blocked the road linking the state with AP and Karnataka and dispersed after DSP Baskaran promised that a committee headed by a DSP rank officer would probe the death.
“My last complaint was in Sept with the district collectorate highlighting the large-scale illegal sand mining from riverbeds and bunds of water bodies near my farmland,” Srinivasan told TOI.
“I submitted petitions under the Makkaludan Mudhalver scheme. Several gangs, irrespective of political lineage, have been involved in the illegal mining. I believe one such gang murdered my son…,” Srinivasan said.
The Pernampet police altered the missing person complaint to section 194 (suspicious death) of BNS and began inquiries. Inspector Rukmangathan said the youth might have accidentally touched the electric fence erected illegally by his neighbour. “We do not suspect any foul play. A forensic team has taken samples and a postmortem examination was performed. We will be in a position to ascertain the cause of death only after receiving the results,” he said.
