Mutilated bodies of an inter-caste couple from Hosur in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu were found in the Cauvery near Shivanasamudra in Mandya district in Karnataka, some 135 km from Bengaluru.
While the decomposed body of N. Nandish, 26, a Dalit, was found on November 13, the body of his wife, S. Swathi, 21, a Vanniyar (a most backward caste), was recovered two days later. The Belakavadi police registered a case under Sections 329 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Three persons, including the girl’s father, were taken into custody. The couple, hailing from Soodagondapalli village near Hosur, had been in love for four years or so before they were married in a nearby temple on August 15.
Nandish and Swathi
After the marriage, the couple, fearing violence, left for Hosur where the youth started working in a timber mart. They got their marriage registered at the Shoolagiri Sub Registrar’s Office on September 4. On November 10, they went shopping for clothes and then to see actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan who was visiting Hosur town that day as part of his tour programme.
Since the couple did not return home and could not be contacted either as their mobiles were switched off, Nandish’s brother, N. Shankar, preferred a complaint with the Hosur Town Police on November 11. He also told the police that the girl’s father, Srinivasan, did not approve of their marriage.
In the meantime, the Hosur police received information from their counterparts in Karnataka that they had found bodies of a young couple in the Cauvery, one on November 13 and the other on November 15. The Karnataka Police suspected that the couple had been kidnapped in Hosur and murdered in Mandya.
Further investigation revealed that members of the girl’s family spotted the couple at the actor-politician’s road show. They were told that the family had accepted their marriage and wanted to organise a ceremony at the girl’s house as per custom. However, instead of driving to the village, the couple were taken to Shimsha in Mandya district, where they were strangled following an altercation, the Karnataka Police said. The murderers reportedly tied their hands and legs before throwing them into the river.
Visuals released by the Karnataka Police not only enabled them to identify the victims but also exposed the extreme brutality of the killers. The identity of the couple was established beyond doubt following the identification of Nandish’s shirt, which had a portrait of B.R. Ambedkar and the name of his village printed on it.
In fact, prior to their marriage, Swathi had filed a complaint with the police that if anything untoward happened to them, her relatives alone should be held responsible. Her father, her uncles, Venkatesh (43) and Ashwathappa (45), other relatives Krishnan (26) and Venkat Raj (25), and Samynathan (30), a driver, were named as accused. Srinivasan who had earlier surrendered along with Venkatesh and Krishnan, admitted to the crime.
The Karnataka Police claimed that during interrogation Srinivasan said the village ridiculed the family because his daughter had married a Dalit. It was Swathi who had insisted on marrying Nandish for the past four years or so. Nandish was reluctant because of the opposition in her family. In fact, on the insistence of the girl, the youth’s father, Narayanappa, approached Srinivasan seeking his permission for the marriage. But he was turned away. Swathi left her house and stayed at Nandish’s house. “They were married later in a temple,” said Shankar.
Meanwhile, various Dalit organisations met Nandish’s family in the village. The CPI (M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan and Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Committee State general secretary Samuel Raj and others visited the family and promised all assistance.
COMMents
SHARE