In a shocking incident, a PMK worker who was walking on top of a train in Tindivanam in Tamil Nadu, was electrocuted on Wednesday, 11 April. The man, identified as 32-year-old Ranjith, was part of the rail mariyal (protest by blocking trains) staged by the PMK over the Cauvery issue.
The incident was caught on camera.
The video shows a group of PMK workers marching on the railway tracks, carrying aloft the party flag. While some cadres are sitting on top of the engine, Ranjith and another cadre can be seen running on top of a train clearly ignoring the high-tension wires above their heads. All of a sudden, Ranjith comes into contact with an overhead electric line. The video shows a spark and Ranjith aflame. According to PMK members, Ranjith was immediately rushed to the hospital.
He was hospitalised at JIPMER in Puducherry.
Although news agency ANI claimed that Ranjith had passed away, two sources in the PMK told TNM that he is still alive.
As his condition was serious, JIPMER advised that he be transferred to Sri Ramachandra Medical College. But later, they said there was no need to shift him.A source in the PMK to TNM
However, the source later added that it seemed that Ranjith's burns are not critical.
During protests in which railway stations are targeted, demonstrators lie or sit on rail tracks, blocking trains from passing. It is also a norm during such protests for protesters to climb on top of trains, waving their party flags.
PMK had called for a bandh and a rail mariyal in five districts – Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem, Cuddalore, Viluppuram and Puducherry – over the Centre’s alleged failure to set up the Cauvery Management Board. During the rail roko in Tindivanam in Villupuram district, a group of men climbed on top of a stationary train.
PMK leader and Dharmapuri MP Anbumani Ramadoss was leading the rail mariyal at the Egmore Railway Station in Chennai. He and other PMK workers have been taken into preventive custody.
(The story was originally published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)