Salem: Villagers kill a youth for minor mishap

Salem: Family members of a 29-year-old youth, who was killed in an assault by villagers, refused to take his body after post mortem at the government hospital in Salem on Sunday. They were demanding action against the assailants. Police said Santhosh Kumar from Dharmapuri, a staff of a marketing firm, was travelling in a car with four of his colleagues and driving through Kottagoundampatty village to skip the toll gate in Karuppur on July 2.

There was heavy traffic at toll gate as the final rites of Dalit youth Gokulraj, who was murdered over a love affair, was underway. “While going through the village, their car had hit a boy in the neighbourhood. The irate villagers, who gathered in large numbers, had severely assaulted the five persons, when Santhosh Kumar had swooned,”police said.

Though his friends begged the villagers to permit them to take him to the hospital, they refused to oblige. Only after nearly 45 minutes did the villagers allow them to go to the hospital. However, Santhosh Kumar died without responding to treatment at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Following this, the body of the deceased was brought to the government hospital in Salem for a post mortem. However, the family members and relatives refused to receive his body on Sunday and held a protest demanding that the police arrest the culprits.

Santhosh Kumar's friends claimed that they could have saved him if they had rushed him to the hospital immediately after he swooned. The police have registered a case of murder and arrested Manikandan, a toll gate staff, who was part of the mob that lynched Santhosh Kumar while a search is on to nab others.

Investigations revealed that the toll gate administration has deployed a few men, including people of Kottagoundampatty village, to stop vehicles and collect an amount from those who skip the toll gate and go by their village. Further investigations are on.