Army jawan’s allegation of TN mob attacking wife: Man from leaked phone call arrested

Nearly a week after Prabhakaran, an Army jawan posted in Kashmir shared a video on social media platforms claiming that his wife was attacked, stripped and molested by a mob of 120 people in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai, police have arrested a man named Vinod whose purported phone conversation with Prabhakaran was later leaked. The veracity of the jawan’s claims were questioned after the audio clip was leaked, in which the purported voice of Prabhakaran can be heard tutoring Vinod to corroborate his allegations. Following these developments, the Tamil police on Friday, June 16, arrested Vinod. The leaked audio brought focus back on Prabhakaran’s brother-in-law, who has been absconding after allegedly stabbing a person in Tiruvannamalai district.

After the jawan’s video came to light last week, TNM visited Palavedu village in Tiruvannamalai where Prabhakaran’s family resides and spoke to local residents. According to them, Prabhakaran’s family had procured a shop on lease from a man named Ramu in Palavedu. Ramu wanted the family to vacate the shop by February 10, but Prabhakaran's family refused to vacate the property citing their agreement, residents and witnesses of the altercation told TNM. On June 10, when Ramu visited the shop, an argument ensued and Prabhakaran’s brother-in-law allegedly stabbed Ramu with a knife. People who witnessed the incident told TNM that the Army jawan’s wife was not stripped or molested as claimed.

In the audio clip, the purported voice of Prabhakaran can be heard instructing Vinod to mobilise people to speak in favour of his wife, and tutoring him to exaggerate the incident and claim that his wife was stripped and attacked. “The main thing is that we have to mobilise 10-20 people, our people, for the strike and they should say that my wife was stripped half-naked and attacked and not admit that they stabbed the owner of the shop,” Prabhakaran allegedly said to Vinod. While Vinod has been arrested, Prabhakaran’s brothers-in-law, Jeeva and Udaya, have been absconding since the incident.

Read: Audio clip, witnesses dispute jawan’s claim that wife was stripped by mob in TN