Tamil Nadu: Dalit boy's parents want CBI or SIT to probe death

Chennai: The parents of dalit youth Ilavarasan, whose death continues to remain shrouded in mystery, today refused to accept the police version that he committed suicide and demanded a probe by CBI or a Special Investigation Team. Expressing suspicion over the cause of death of their son, whose body was found along railway track in Dharmapuri, Ilavarasan’s parents– T Elango and Krishnaveni, accompanied by their advocates, told reporters that police had not investigated the various angles in the case. [caption id=“attachment_972315” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Dalit boy Ilavarasan. Image: Firstpost[/caption] They alleged that selective leaks to media were being made to show that the death was a suicide. Elango alleged that they were lapses in the police investigation as they did not span out to nearby areas for clues and did not deploy sniffer dogs. He also expressed doubts over police verifying the authenticity of a letter purportedly written by his son and their declaration that it was a case of suicide without referring to forensic tests. Ilavarasan’s marriage with an upper caste girl Divya in October last year triggered caste clashes in parts of Dharmapuri and the girl later chose to live with her mother as her father committed suicide over her tying the knot with a dalit boy. A day after Divya said she would not return to her husband, Ilavarasan’s body was spotted on a railway track on July four. The first post mortem was conducted without family consent, which forced the parents to move the High Court, leading the court to order a second autopsy by a team of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The father claimed that his son did not have any suicidal tendencies and he had informed his advocate that he was proceeding to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh to continue his studies. Elango and senior advocates NGR Prasad, R Sankara Subbu and Rajnikanth said that police should probe certain claims that locals had heard some men arguing in the area where Ilavarasan was found dead. “It is clear that the police has not carried out the investigation in the right manner. Also, there is no action on a petition seeking transfer of a DSP investigating the incident. Therefore we seek transfer of the probe to CBI or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for impartial investigation,” they said. PTI