Namakkal arson: Caste feud suspected

COIMBATORE: Incidents of attacks and arson on properties and destruction of farms in Jedarpalayam village in Namakkal have boiled down into a likely caste issue.

It all started with the murder of a 27-year-old woman on March 11 this year, when tension began to simmer allegedly between ‘vettuva gounders’ and ‘kongu vellala gounders’ in the village.

“Villagers of the victim’s clan suspected involvement of some north Indian worker, apart from a 17-year-old boy arrested in the murder of a woman, and turned their grouse on migrant workers employed by the cash-rich other community, who were mostly landlords and owned jaggery units in the neighbourhood. Initially, they restrained their target only on migrants before turning their ire towards their employers, which was also met with some retaliation,” said a police source.

In one such attack on May 13, a 19-year-old migrant worker from Odisha was burnt alive while three others sustained burn injuries. Even though the village continued to be under a thick blanket of security by over 500 cops, incidents of attacks on properties and farms continued unabated.

For long, the police were under the perception that it could be a case of retaliatory attack for the murder of a woman.There were also incidents of attacks with mistaken identity as miscreants caused widespread destruction by striking twice at arecanut farms in the Chinnamarudur area owned by a person, who is from a different caste.

Senior police officials however ruled out any issues of caste differences among the villagers.

“The caste issue was not the root cause of attacks in the village. It was some individuals with a nefarious mindset who were creating trouble and their actions shouldn’t be perceived as common. Almost 99 per cent of people in the village, who hail from different communities, are living harmoniously and united without any issues,” said Superintendent of Police S Rajesh Kannan.

Further, the SP said those involved in the attack and arrested by police, as well as the victims are from three different castes and not specific to any two particular groups.

“So far, a total of 30 persons have been arrested,” he said. On September 8, police also nabbed 10 persons and seized 5 two-wheelers and knives. Investigation into the rape and murder of the woman has been taken over by the CB-CID.