Days after 32-year-old Esakki Shankar was found dead on the banks of the Thamirabarani river in Tirunelveli, with a knife-wound on his neck, police have confirmed that it was a case of caste-killing.
Claiming to have cracked the case, police say they have arrested seven juveniles including the 17-year-old brother of Shankar’s girlfriend, in connection with the crime.
On Tuesday morning, Shankar’s body was found on the banks of the Thamirabarani river near Vellanguli, Tirunelveli with a fatal wound inflicted by a knife on his neck. An employee of Tirunelveli District Central Cooperative Bank, Shankar was murdered when he went to take a bath in the river.
The 17-year-old brother is the main accused in the crime, say police. Speaking to TNM about the case, Ambasamudram DSP Zaheer Hussain said that despite the girl’s parents agreeing to the wedding between Esakki and Sathyabama, her younger brother was unhappy with his sister’s relationship with a man from a different caste.
“The boy knew that Esakki goes to take bath in the river every morning. So on Tuesday, he and his friends followed Esakki and attacked him with a knife. There were six cuts on Esakki’s body. Although Sathyabama’s parents did not believe that the boy would have killed Esakki, later he himself confessed in front of his family that he murdered Esakki,” the DSP added.
“Esakki belonged to the Konar community (OBC) and we are hearing that he and a young woman from his neighborhood were in love. She was from the Thevar (OBC) community. So we are investigating if the girl's family was involved in the murder. We are yet to confirm the exact motive. We are interrogating around 20 people," the investigating officer had told TNM on Wednesday.
Esakki’s 20-year-old girlfriend, Sathyabama, allegedly killed herself in her house, the night following Shankar's murder.
The police have booked the boy and six other juveniles under section 302 of the IPC (murder).
(This story was originally published in The News Minute and has been reposted with permission.)
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