Chennai: Kin of a deceased woman, along with BJP men, resorted to a road roko with her body, disrupting traffic on Tambaram–Velachery road for nearly 45 minutes, on Thursday morning.The body was placed in the camp road junction and the protesters seeking action against Krishnagiri food cell cops for causing the death of Vimalarani (36).
Her cardiac arrest was reportedly triggered by threats issued by Krishnagiri food cell cops to book her husband, Hariprasad, (44), under the Goondas Act. The deceased woman was also a Hindu Munnani local unit functionary.The mother of three had started having cop visitors from Krishnagiri and interrogating her since her husband was arrested in a rice-smuggling case, in which two others including his friend who rented the van for '4,000 and van driver were arrested last month.
“Hariprasad, arrested on January 8 by Krishnagiri food cell police, ran a cargo service, in Venkadamangalam near Tambaram, from here. However, he was remanded only on January 10. He was kept in illegal custody,” charged Vedha Subramaniam, BJP’s Tambaram assembly constituency in-charge. Subsequently, Vimalarani moved bail for her husband, which was dismissed by the jurisdictional court.
As days rolled, the cops’ visits to Hariprasad’s house for follow up interrogation with Vimalarani increased. Besides threatening her to book her husband under Goondas Act, they charged that she was also party to the crime. The cops last came a week ago and it was their third since the arrest.On Wednesday, the woman suffered a cardiac arrest and sought the help of her neighbours that rushed her to a hospital where she died not responding to the treatment.
While the efforts to enlarge Hariprasad on bail are yet to fructify, the protesters cremated the body at Chitlapakkam crematorium without her husband.
