Tension in Vagaikulam after assaulted dalit man dies

MADURAI: It was a day fraught with tension for villagers of Vagaikulam in Madurai district, after a dalit man who was attacked by a Hindu group, succumbed to his injuries in the hospital on Tuesday morning.
The victim was attacked on Sunday. Police sources said the village, which has more caste Hindus, has been communally sensitive for years. Police personnel have been deployed there to prevent any untoward incidents.Meanwhile, rural police have arrested five accused and are on the lookout for another involved in the murder.
The victim was identified as K Palanikumar, 35, from Vagaikulam village near Alanganallur in Madurai district. He was attacked by a gang of caste Hindus on Sunday evening, when the Thevar Jayanthi celebrations were coming to an end. The arrested accused have been identified as Sathishkumar, 27, Malayarasan, 26, Arunkumar, 22, Ajithkumar, 21 and Vasudevan, 23. Entry of outsiders into the village has been restricted and bus service to the village has been stopped as a precautionary measure.
Villagers stated that the caste Hindu youths were trying to create trouble on Thevar jayanthi. They sped through dalit settlements shouting slogans praising their community and making derogatory remarks against the dalit community. While communal tension has been brewing for some time now, a fresh dispute arose, when Palanikumar defaced a marriage poster pasted by caste Hindus with their leader and freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar.
Tension shifted to the GRH, as relatives of the deceased and Puthiya Tamilagam, a political outfit, staged a road block on Panagal Road in front of the hospital on Tuesday. Vehicular movement between Goripalayam and Sivaganga Road was stalled due to the protest which lasted for an hour. The protesters demanded the arrest of all the accused involved in the murder and compensation to kin of the deceased. They withdrew the protest only after police assured them that their demands would be fulfilled.