A 19-year-old man was found dead near a railway track in Salem district on Sunday afternoon. But the death of Sathish Kumar, a lorry cleaner, has triggered a huge controversy with the deceased’s family alleging that Rio Paralympics gold medalist Thangavelu Mariyappan and his friends had harassed him on Saturday evening.
However, the police said that it was a clear case of suicide and the reason for the suicide was an argument he had with his family members.
The deceased, Sathish Kumar, (19), was working as a lorry cleaner in Salem. An FIR has been filed at the Salem junction railway police station under Section 174 of CrPc (death under suspicious circumstances).
Sathish’s family members have refused to accept his body until an enquiry is conducted against Mariyappan and his friends.
The family alleged that Mariyappan and his friends had abused and harassed Sathish on Saturday evening.
“On Saturday evening around 6pm, Satish Kumar’s two-wheeler hit Mariyappan’s car, and they beat up Sathish. After an hour, Mariyappan and his two friends, Yuvaraj and Sabari went to Sathish’s house, and asked for money. Sathish begged them and promised to pay back the money but Yuvaraj took away his phone and asked Sathish to get back the mobile phone after paying money. Sathish went behind them around 8pm to get back his mobile phone and never came back home. His body was found near the Salem railway track on Sunday afternoon,” said Sankaranarayanan, Sathish’s cousin.
Sankaranarayanan told TNM that they would not accept the body till a case was filed against Mariyappan and friends, “They have asked us to take the body, they said that they cannot take action against Mariyappan and his friends. We will not accept the body till an enquiry has been carried out,” he said.
Sathish’s body is at the Salem government hospital and family members have demanded that no post-mortem should be conducted.
The family alleges it was murder, “We think he was murdered. Even if he has committed suicide, it was because of Mariyappan and his friends,” he added.
However, the Superintendent of Police of Salem district, Rajan, said that this was a case of suicide and had nothing to do with Mariyappan.
“Mariyappan and his friends played no role in this. His sister and mother had shouted at him as he hit Mariyappan’s car, because of which he committed suicide. He had hit Mariyappan’s car and ran away from the place. Mariyappan and his friends went to his house and told him that he should have at least informed them. After which, his family started scolding him, after which he ran away from his house and committed suicide by jumping under a train,” the police official said.
He added that the police were not aware of the exact time he jumped under a train because he had run away from the house around 7pm on Saturday and his body was found on Sunday at 1pm.
The Salem railway police said that investigation was under process.
The News Minute tried contacting Mariyappan and his friend, Sabari but both were unavailable to comment about the incident. On Sunday night, Mariyappan had told Tamil channels that he had never demanded money from Sathish and was only upset that he has fled from the accident spot.