More than two years after human feces was mixed into an overhead tank (OHT) supplying water to the Dalit enclave in Vengaivayal village, Pudukottai district, the CB-CID of the Tamil Nadu Police informed the Madras High Court on Friday that the investigation has been completed.
A chargesheet against three individuals was filed on January 20 before the fast-track court in Pudukottai.
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The accused, all Dalits, have sparked a demand from rights activists and political groups like CPM and VCK — both allies of the ruling DMK — to transfer the investigation to the CBI.
The CPM alleged that the police had implicated the victims as the accused to prematurely close the case.
The incident, which occurred in December 2022, caused nationwide outrage. It came to light when several children from the Dalit settlement, located 352 km from Chennai, were hospitalized with fever and diarrhea.
During a hearing on public interest litigations (PILs) seeking a CBI probe into the alleged delay in identifying the culprits, the First Division Bench of Chief Justice KR Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamurthy directed that the CB-CID’s findings be submitted in an affidavit.
Additional Advocate General J Ravindran revealed that the CB-CID had identified three accused after examining witnesses and documents.
According to the chargesheet, the accused— Sudarshan, Muthukrishnan, and Muraliraja — committed the act as an act of revenge against Muttukadu Panchayat president Padma and her husband Muthaiah for dismissing Shanmugam, the tank operator.
Muthukrishnan and Sudarshan allegedly climbed the OHT to contaminate the water, while Muraliraja spread false information about a foul smell in the supply.
The investigation involved testimony from 397 witnesses and analysis of data from 196 mobile phones and 87 mobile towers.
