Four persons were detained by Tamil Nadu Police on Tuesday in connection with Sunday’s “honour killing” of Dalit youth Sankar who married a girl from a caste Hindu family. The police, while accepting that four persons have been detained , was silent whether they have been arrested or not. According to police officials in Udumalpet, those detained, Jegadeesan, Selvakumar, Manikantan and Madan were friends of Chinnasamy, father-in-law of the victim Sankar.
Chinnasamy, who surrendered in a Dindigul court on Monday is believed to have told the judge that he does not know the assailants.
But Kausalya, his daughter who was seriously injured in the attack, told the police that Sankar was murdered by the henchmen of her father Chinnasamy.
Meanwhile, Kausalya, who is undergoing treatment at Coimbatore Government Hospital for injuries suffered in the attack, is staring at a bleak future with the family of Sankar washing their hands off her. “Kousalya alone is responsible for the present state of affairs. She knew that her family would not accept this marriage and hence should have not gone ahead with it,” Mariyayi, Sankar’s grandmother told reporters.
Close relatives of Sankar are afraid that the goons who killed Sankar would return to finish off them if they provide shelter to Kausalya. “There is a chance of Chinnasamy sending killers to finish off Sankar’s younger brothers,” one of the relatives told a vernacular daily.
K Sumathi, another relation of Sankar told TV channels that the family does not have the wealth to look after Kausalya.
The young widow had dropped out of her studies after the marriage and was working as a sales girl in a tile show room at Udumalpet to facilitate Sankar’s studies.