Tamil Nadu: Dalit woman brutally murdered in Kanchipuram, body found among junk in factory

38-year-old woman working in a cardboard factory in Enathur, Tamil Nadu beaten to death with iron rod, jewellery robbery also suspected, Dalit organisations demand fair probe.
Tamil Nadu: A 38-year-old Dalit woman working in a cardboard box manufacturing unit near Enathur in Kanchipuram district was found dead with serious head injuries on Saturday evening (July 5). The woman has been identified as Selvi alias Hepsi, who hailed from Andi Siruvallur village and had joined the factory just a week ago.
According to the police, Selvi was killed by being beaten with an iron rod. Her jewellery weighing about six sovereigns – gold chain, earrings and thali (mangalsutra) – was found missing from the spot.
Selvi left home for work on Saturday morning but did not return till late night. After this, her husband Suresh and other family members went to look for her. On reaching the factory premises, they found an employee Senthil lying outside in a highly intoxicated state.
When they did not get any clear answer from him, the family members went inside the warehouse, where Selvi’s body was found hidden among the junk. After this, the Ponnerikkarai police was informed. The body was sent to Kanchipuram Government Hospital for postmortem.
Initial investigation by the police has not found any clear signs of sexual assault. However, the police is investigating whether the motive behind the murder was only to loot the jewellery or there is some other reason behind it. Officials are also trying to find out whether the incident was committed by an insider or an outsider had entered the factory.
Factory owner Praveen Kumar and another employee have been detained for questioning. At the same time, Senthil is reported to have absconded and his search is on.
Since Selvi belonged to the Scheduled Caste community, Dalit organizations have demanded a fair and transparent investigation after this incident. CCTV footage of the area is being scanned to find out if any outsider was involved in the incident. At present, the investigation of the case is going on.
Courtesy: Rajan Chaudhary, Hindi News