Residents of Mugilthagam in Thondi police limits and members of Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front on Monday staged a road roko in front of the government district headquarters hospital here.
Protesting against the murder of 23-year-old Ajithkumar, a Dalit youth, they expressed suspicion that it might have been a case of ‘honour killing’.
Traffic was disrupted for about half-an-hour as the residents and Front members squatted on the road demanding that the police book the accused under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (prevention of atrocities) Act, and award compensation to the family.
The protesters also alleged that the murder was a case of ‘honour killing’ as the deceased was in love with a girl from Chozhiyakudi and her parents were opposed to their marriage.
Although the deceased and the girl were from the SC community, they belonged to different subsects that did not forge marital alliances with each other.
Ajithkumar, an auto-rickshaw driver employed in a petrol pump, went missing on Saturday evening after taking leave for three days.
He was found hacked to death at Manjakarichan Oorani, near coastal Nambuthalai on Sunday.
Thondi police registered a case under Section 302 and launched a hunt for the accused.
Ruling out ‘honour killing’ and involvement of the girl’s family in the murder, Superintendent of Police Omprakash Meena said police had identified two or three suspects in the case and they would be apprehended soon.
The murder, believed to have taken place after a drunken brawl, and the motive would be known after the arrest of the accused.
If the accused belonged to a different community, the police would book them under the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act, the senior police official said adding the sections would be altered only after the arrest of the accused.
