On January 14, the Ariyalur police found the decomposed body of a minor Dalit girl who was raped and murdered allegedly by her estranged boyfriend and his three friends on December 29, 2016. Police have arrested four people in the case and have remanded them to judicial custody.

 According to the police, the 17-year-old girl was in a relationship with Manikandan, the prime accused in the case, for the last one year. They both developed a relationship when they were working together. The girl was working as a daily wage labourer and Manikandan was working as a mason, police said. He was working as the union secretary of Hindu Munnani and belonged to Vanniyar caste.

Manikandan, sub-inspector of Irumbulikurichi police station, told The News Minute, “On December 26, she was kidnapped by Manikandan, the main accused. Three days later, she was raped by him and his three friends  then she was thrown into a well in Keezha Maligai village,” he said.

He added that the girl was one-and-a-half months pregnant. “She was pregnant and wanted to get married to Manikandan. But he wanted her to get the child aborted which led him to murder the girl,” he said.

The girl’s body was thrown into the well and was found in a decomposed state with her hands tied.

The three friends of Manikandan have been identified as Thirumurgan, Manivannan and Vetichelvan. Manikandan was arrested on January 14 and confessed to the crime. Police later arrested his friends on January 15, 2017.

A senior investigator from SC commission confirmed that rape and murder were included in the police report. “Police has included rape and murder as the accused confessed to the crime. Political groups had pressured police to question the district secretary of Hindu Munnani, Rajasekar, in this case,” he said.

However, Manikandan said that no evidence was found against Rajasekar, so he was not arrested in the case.