No second autopsy of Salem victims: Madras High Court

A division bench headed by Justice CT Selvam set aside the plea after suggesting that the petitioner advocate P Pugalenthi approach the Andhra Pradesh High Court, in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred. 

Pugalenthi had submitted that on February 19, after hearing news about the death of the five alleged Tamil Nadu woodcutters, he had visited the spot and spoken to many people in Cuddapah and Tirupati to ascertain the possibility of any foul play in the deaths, given that 20 such labourers were killed in a fake encounter by the Andhra Pradesh police in 2015. 

He alleged that the autopsy examination on the bodies of P Karuppan, A Chinnapaiyan, A Murugesan, C Jayaran, and C Murugesan — all residents of Salem — had been carried out hurriedly at the direction of the Andhra Pradesh police. “Since there was no possibility of all the five drowning 

in the tank considering its depth, it would be in the interest of justice that a second autopsy of the bodies by an independent team of doctors of Tamil Nadu is ordered before handing over the mortal remains to the families concerned,” he said.

Bodies of the five woodcutters from TN, found in a waterbody at Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh, were taken to Salem on Tuesday night. The bodies were earlier handed over to relatives following autopsy at the Cuddapah Government Hospital in the afternoon, said police. The bodies of the migrant workers from Kalvarayan Hills near Vazhapadi in Salem district were retrieved in a decomposed state from Vontamitta tank in Cuddapah on Sunday.  

Solatium of Rs 3 lakh announced by CM Edappadi K Palaniswami will be handed over to the kin of the deceased.  The Salem district administration has made efforts to prepare a list of workers, who had gone to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka from tribal villages in search of work. 

Activists have been claiming that the whereabouts of around 170 people, who had gone in search of jobs through agents from Salem and Vellore districts, were not known. Collector Rohini R Bhajibhakare said welfare projects are being implemented to improve the livelihood of tribals in the district.