The Agali police in Palakkad, on Tuesday, submitted the chargesheet in the case of Madhu, a 30-year-old Adivasi man who was lynched to death a few months ago. All the 16 accused have been charged with murder. Apart from murder, the accused have also been charged under various sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Investigation officer TK Subramaniam handed over the chargesheet to the Mannarkkad special court on Wednesday.
"The accused have been charged under IPC sections 362 (abduction), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 302 (murder), 352 (assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation), 326 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means)143 (unlawful assembly), 144 (Joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon). SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Section 3 A has also been invoked against the accused," Agali Police confirmed to TNM.
On February 22 of this year, 30-year-old Madhu, an Adivasi man from Attappadi was beaten to death by a mob of 16 people, who accused him of stealing food items including rice. The mob called the local police but Madhu had vomited and fallen unconscious by then. The doctors declared him brought dead.
There is however no reference in the charge sheet to the involvement of Forest Officials in the incident. The forest officials were initially blamed for pointing out Madhu's location to the accused, however, this finds no mention in the chargesheet.
The 11,640 pages long chargesheet cites scientific evidence and statements of 165 witnesses. It also mentions 15 injuries in Madhu's body. The Agali police have obtained as evidence 8 mobile phones which the accused used to shoot photos and videos of the lynching. Visuals from 3 CCTV cameras from the Mukkali junction and the 5 vehicles used by the accused have also been obtained as evidence.
Following the incident, the Agali police lead by DSYP TK Subramnaian filed an FIR charging all 16 accused - Hussain (50), Marakkar (33), Shamsudheen (34), Aneesh (30), Radhakrishnan (34), Aboobacker (31), Siddique (38), Ubaid (25), Najeeb (33), Jaijumon (44), Abdul Kareem (48), Sajeev (30), Satheesh (39), Hareesh (34), Byju (41) and Muneer (28) - under numerous sections of the IPC and SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act.