Tirupur tribal tortured to death, alleges Shanmugam

CHENNAI: CPM state secretary P Shanmugam and Tamil Nadu Tribal Association president P Dillibabu have strongly condemned the suspicious death of a tribal man, allegedly in the custody of the Forest Department in Udumalpet, and demanded a CB-CID investigation into the incident.

Mari Muthu (58), a tribal from Kurumalai settlement in Udumalpet taluk of Tirupur district, died in Forest Department custody, while officials claimed it was suicide.

Shanmugam dismissed this account, terming it implausible. “Mari Muthu had been falsely implicated in a ganja case in 2017, and the Udumalpet court had acquitted him on July 29. The very next day, he was forcibly taken off a government bus while returning home and assaulted in custody. This was a custodial murder, not suicide,” he alleged.

Pointing to injuries on his body, Shanmugam and Dillibabu accused forest officials of torture. They demanded that the government treat the case as a custodial death under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. “The Forest Department is attempting to cover up the murder by floating the narrative that Mari Muthu was smuggling tiger parts,” Dillibabu said.

They urged the government to suspend all officials involved and urged for a CB-CID probe. Both the CPM and the tribal association demanded Rs 50 lakh solatium to the dead tribal’s kin.