Madurai
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ordered the re-postmortem of the body of a Scheduled Caste temple priest alleged to have been murdered by a group of Caste Hindus in Pudukkottai district. The wife of the deceased temple priest has sought a CB-CID probe into the incident.
Justice G. Ilangovan directed a team comprising doctors and forensic experts of Pudukkottai Government Medical College Hospital to conduct the re-postmortem. The court was hearing the petition filed by K. Villayi, the wife of the temple priest Karuppaiya.
Villayi said that her husband, Karuppaiya, was a temple priest at a Kali temple in Theeyathur in Pudukkottai district. On June 16, he was attacked by a group of Caste Hindus after he had offered the ‘vibhuti’ in hand.
She said the group of Murugaiah, Prabhu, Velavan, Ananthan and Kesavan had questioned her husband over offering the ‘vibhuti’ in hand instead of offering it on the archanai plate. She said that they attacked her husband as he had touched them.
A complaint was lodged with the local police. But no steps were taken against the accused. The group also lodged a complaint against her husband. A peace committee meeting was held, but ended in vain, she said.
Under these circumstances, the petitioner said that her husband went missing on August 14. He had gone out to buy betel leaves at about 8 p.m., but did not return home. On August 15, her husband was found hanging from a tree, she said.
She alleged that her husband was murdered due to caste animosity and it was not a case of suicide. She complained that there were injuries on the body of her husband. She sought the conduct of a re-postmortem and a CB-CID probe into the incident. The court has sought the reports in the case.
