The family of the murdered contractor, N. Kannan, received the body on Thursday after talks with Collector V. Vishnu and senior police officials who promised to forward their demand of compensation and job to the wife of the deceased to the Chief Minister.
Kannan of Vadakku Thazhayoothu was murdered last Monday allegedly by supporters of history- sheeter P. Muthu Mano, who was beaten to death inside Palayamkottai Central Prison on April 22, to avenge his murder. Tension gripped the suburbs as the accused and the deceased belong to different castes. Consequently, the relatives of Kannan refused to accept the body, demanding government job for his wife and compensation of ₹50 lakh to his family.
Despite repeated talks with the relatives of Kannan, a stalemate continued and the delay in arresting the culprits escalated the tension further.
Meanwhile, wife of Kannan, Punitha, his parents and office-bearers of Dhakshinamara Nadar Sangam, led by its president R. K. Kalidasan, submitted a petition with their demands to Collector V. Vishnu on Thursday. They held talks with Mr. Vishnu, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Tirunelveli Range, Praveen Kumar Abinapu, Superintendent of Police N. Manivannan and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Tirunelveli City, Suresh Kumar.
“Since the Collector has assured that he would forward the demands to the Chief Minister, we’ve decided to accept the body of Kannan. We’ve appealed to the Collector to take steps to stop caste-based murders by arresting the masterminds behind these killings,” said R. Shanmugavel, secretary of Dhakshinamara Nadar Sangam.
Subsequently, the body was handed over to the family before noon.
