E-Paper
Tamil Nadu human faeces case: four political outfit members detained for trying to break water tank
Four members of Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK), on Monday attempted to break the overhead tank in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district inside which human faeces were found in December 2022.
Members of a political outfit, Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK), on Monday attempted to break the overhead tank in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district inside which human faeces were found in December 2022.
The local police detained four members of the outfit who climbed atop the water tank and tried to hammer it down. They tried to destroy the water tank which they referred to as a symbol of casteism. The site had been barricaded by the police. “We have registered a case against the four of them,” superintendent of police Vanitha Pandey said. The police had not decided on the sections under which they would be booked until the time of writing.
The men detained have been identified as the party’s Tamil Nadu youth wing secretary Muruganantham, Salem district youth wing secretary Kaviyarasan, Sivagangai town secretary Ajit Selvaraj and Puducherry youth wing secretary Arul Oli. The members climbed on top of the overhead tank and used a hammer to break it while holding the party flag, and demanding the police to speed up the investigation and make arrests soon.
The case was transferred to the CB-CID in January, a month after local police were not able to book any one in the case.
HT reached out to the Party chief of TVK, T Velmurugan but did not get any response immediately.
The crime came to light in December 2022 after a local doctor told villagers to check for contamination in their drinking water after several children had fallen ill with vomiting and diarrhoea and three of them had to be hospitalised. The Pudukkottai police registered three cases after the villagers found human faeces in the overhead tank. There were still no arrests as the miscreants are yet to be identified.
Since the revelation, the 30-odd Dalit families of the village started using alternative sources of potable water arranged by the district administration. A day after the crime, district collector Kavitha Ramu and Pandey led the Dalits to their local temple where they have been denied entry for generations.
While responding to a special call attention motion of MLAs on the incident, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin assured that the district administration has provided new water connections and other medical facilities to the discriminated families. Furthermore, the investigation team has questioned around 70 people in connection to the case, he added.
