His relatives mourn the death of the king. They refused to take his body. Photo Credit: E. Lakshmi Narayanan
The relatives of the deceased man, allegedly killed by the Karnataka Forest Department, refused to accept the body and continued their protest on Saturday.
The body of 40-year-old M. Karavadaiyan alias Raja of Karaikadu in Kolathur near Mettur was found in the Palar river in Erode district on Friday. It was sent to Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital for postmortem. It is alleged that on Tuesday night when he went to hunt animals on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border, the Karnataka Forest Department shot him.
His relatives demanded a government job for a family member and urged the police to register a case against the Karnataka Forest Department. They also announced that they would not accept the body until their demands were met. On Saturday morning, Superintendent of Police of Salem district, R.K. Shivakumar and officials from the revenue department held talks with Raja’s family members in Mettur and assured them that the authorities would look into their demands. After this, the relatives agreed to take the dead body. But after reaching Salem at the hospital, he demanded compensation from the Karnataka Forest Department. Later, the family along with Mettur MLA S Sathasivam came to Salem Collectorate and met Collector S Karmegam.
Mr. Sathasivam told reporters that the collector spoke to his counterpart in Karnataka. He assured them that the Tamil Nadu garrison would be immediately shifted from Kolathur to a place near the Karnataka border. “The collector also assured us that he would look into our demands after the post-mortem report is ready. If our demands are not met, we will protest at the border along with the post-mortem report,” Mr. Sathasivam said. The post-mortem was done at the hospital at around 6 pm. But demanding compensation from the Karnataka Forest Department, the relatives refused to accept the body and left the hospital.