Relatives of Gandhian and anti-liquor crusader, Sasi Perumal refused to accept his body after the post-mortem was conducted at the Kanyakumari Government Medical College Hospital (KGMCH) reiterating their demand for prohibition in the entire state here on Saturday.
Immediately after the post-mortem was over at KGMCH, District Collector Sajjansingh R. Chavan came to the hospital and held talks with S.K. Selvam, brother of the late Sasi Perumal, his two sons and relatives in the afternoon.
The Collector pacified them to accept the body as the TASMAC shop in Unnamalaikadai was closed, but they were firm in their stand and demanded total prohibition across the State.
They maintained that they would not accept the body until the government announced for prohibition, which was the only objective of the Gandhian.
Speaking to reporters, they said, “If anybody accepts the body using the family’s name, we will fight it out in the Court’’.
Meanwhile, leaders from all parties barring the AIADMK thronged he hospital and staged a road blockade around noon. They raised slogans against the district administration and the ruling party functionaries for their nonchalant attitude on the issue.
>Sasi Perumal, who was here on Friday to participate in a demonstration to shift a TASMAC outlet, scaled a mobile phone tower to mark his protest. As he was standing atop the tower for over four hours, he fell unconscious. With the help of fire and rescue service personnel, he was brought down and rushed to the hospital, where the doctors pronounced him "brought dead".