Ramanathapuram
V. Rathinam, veteran freedom fighter and member of Indian National Army (INA) led by Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose, died after brief illness.
Rathinam, who was born on August 16, 1919, had stepped into the centenary year two months ago and died soon after admitted to the government hospital at Chathirakudi on Saturday, family members said.
He was 99 years old. He is survived by two sons and three daughters.
Native of S. Kodikulam in Paramakudi block, Rathinam, had moved to Burma when he was a bachelor and joined the INA during the Second World War in the early 1940s. After completing the training programme, he was inducted into the INA and fought against the British.
Later, he was imprisoned by the British along with others and served jail terms in different prisons before he was set free from a prison in Kolkotta, his son R. Veeraperumal, 71, a retired government employee, said.
Rathinam, who got married in 1946, was blessed with five sons and three daughters and is now survived by two sons and three daughters.
He had been regularly attending the Independence Day celebrations, organised by the district administration. This year, he had celebrated Independence Day and his birthday. The then Collector S. Natarajan had honoured him with a shawl and cut the birthday cake with him, Mr. Veeraperumal said.
The Centre had honoured Mr. Rathinam with a monthly pension of more than ₹26,000, while the State government paid a token pension of ₹1,000, he said. Mr. Veeraperumal regretted that he could not provide timely medical assistance to his father at the Chathirakudi government hospital.
He took his father to the hospital around 6 a.m. but the duty doctor arrived only around 9 a.m. that too after he made frantic calls, he said.
When Rathinam suffered breathlessness, the doctors suggested that he could be shifted to the Government Headquarters Hospital but no ambulance was available, he said. He was asked to arrange for the ambulance but before he could do something, his father died, he said.
