Exhumation resumed at the graveyard at E. Malampatti near here on Friday and two more skeletons were taken out at the spot where human sacrifice was alleged to have happened years ago.
The High Court appointed Legal Commissioner, U. Sagayam, who has been inquiring into the multi-crore granite scam in Madurai district for the past 10 months, received a complaint from a former driver of the PRP Granite company M. Sevarkodiyan (39), a month ago. He had alleged that there had been instances of human sacrifice in the locality by his former employer.
After ascertaining the spot, when the exhumation began last Sunday, police seized skeletons from the burial ground including that of an infant. When the complainant had insisted that the bodies were buried as deep as 10 feet, Mr. Sagayam wrote to the District Collector and Superintendent of Police to order further exhumation at the graveyard.
Following a discussion, the authorities commenced the exhumation in the presence of revenue officials, police and scientists from the Forensic Sciences department. There was delay in the exercise as the local villagers were unwilling to do the exhuming since some of them had “bad dreams” for the last few days and hence refused to join. However, after the revenue and police officials convinced them, the exhumation began at 11 a.m.
After about three hours of digging, the workers spotted skeletons at two different spots by the evening. A one rupee coin tied in a small piece of cloth was also collected during the exhumation, a senior official monitoring the exercise said.
Mr. Sagayam, who visited the spot during the day, told reporters that the Commission would gather as much evidence as possible. He clarified that the burial ground at E. Malampatti (from where the skeletons were now being taken) was not the original space allotted for cremation in the village sketch available with the revenue authorities.
Police officers said that they would continue the exhumation work tomorrow (Saturday), during which they may dig up to 10 feet.
