A 28-year-old youth of Vanniyar community was stoned to death by a group of Dalits in a clash that erupted during a temple festival here in the late hours of Thursday.
Mariamman temple festival was in progress for the last one week in Vanniyar dominated Vengampatti village.
On April 27, Dalit youth from Ambedkar Nagar, came to attend the cultural programmes.
It is reported that they teased a girl of the village that was questioned by the local residents.
Quarrel broke out between the youth of two communities.
The situation was brought under control with the intervention of the villagers and the police.
Later, 50 youth of Vengampatti village entered the Ambedkar Nagar and threw stones at the houses.
In retaliation, over 100 Dalits started throwing stones on the youth.
B. Karthick could not escape, and he was stoned to death.
A team led by P. Nagarajan, DIG, Salem Range, Amit Kumar Singh, Superintendent of Police, brought the situation under control.
After a post mortem examination at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital, the body was handed over to his relatives on Friday.
The police have registered a case under Sections 147(rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 302 (murder) of IPC. The police have secured five persons and search is on for another accused.
Karthick is survived by wife Bhuvaneswari, and a seven-month-old daughter.
