Four days after a 22-year-old man was hacked to death and his 16-year-old lover, a Dalit girl, was assaulted by his brother in an alleged act of honour killing, the girl died in hospital on Saturday.
The girl, who sustained deep cuts on the head and right eye, died at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) around 12 a.m., police said.
On Tuesday, K. Vinothkumar, 24, of Vellipalayam near Mettupalayam, belonging to a Most Backward Class community, hacked his brother K. Kanagaraj to death, allegedly for choosing to live with the Dalit girl.
While Kanagaraj died on the spot, the girl was admitted to CMCH for treatment. Vinothkumar surrendered before the police a day after the incident.
Tension at mortuary
Minor tension prevailed at the mortuary of CMCH on Saturday when the mother and relatives of the girl refused to accept the body, raising various demands, including the arrest of three other persons, who allegedly aided Vinothkumar in the crime, the immediate chargesheeting of the accused, speedy trial, a compensation of ₹25 lakh for the family, autopsy of the body by a team of doctors in the presence of Coimbatore north Revenue Divisional Officer P. Suresh and videography of the procedure.
Coimbatore District (Rural) Superintendent of Police Sujit Kumar held talks with the mother of the deceased, relatives and members of various organisations who staged a sit-in in front of CMCH. “The investigation will find whether more persons are involved in the murder,” Mr. Kumar told mediapersons.
‘Not directly involved’
A senior official in the know of the investigation told The Hindu that the three persons, whose arrest the girl’s mother demanded, were not directly involved in the incident.
“The police have already interrogated the three suspects. As per their statement, Vinothkumar on Tuesday had travelled with two of them on a two-wheeler to the hut, which Kanagaraj had taken on rent near Vellipalayam to live with the girl. While the duo went to a petrol pump as the two-wheeler ran out of fuel, Vinothkumar went to the hut and attacked Kanagaraj and the girl,” the officer said.
The girl’s body was autopsied and handed over to her family on Saturday.
