CHENNAI: Tension gripped Vedanatham village near Ettayapuram in Thoothukudi after a 12th-grade student was found murdered in a scrubland, prompting her family to stage a road blockade on Wednesday.

The victim, a 17-year-old student at a Government Higher Secondary School, was in the midst of writing her Class 12 public examinations. She had gone to a nearby forest area behind her house on Monday evening. When she failed to return home, her father, Subburaj, a labourer, and relatives launched a search before approaching the police.

According to the family, they faced initial reluctance in filing a complaint. They were reportedly shuttled between the Kulathur police and the All-Women Police Station in Vilathikulam. A complaint was eventually lodged at the Kulathur station.

The girl’s body was discovered in the forest with injuries to her face on Tuesday night. Police recovered the body and sent it to Thoothukudi Government Hospital for an autopsy.

Enraged by the death and the initial delay in registering their complaint, the victim’s father and residents blocked the road, demanding the immediate arrest of those responsible for the murder and action against the police officers who allegedly initially failed to take their complaint.

Though senior police officials rushed to the village, the protest continued till late Wednesday evening.