Over a month after the murder of a 21-year-old college student in a case of moral policing, the Trichy police have remanded two men in connection to the crime. The accused Prathap and Karthikeyan have confessed to the police that they murdered the student after they found him sitting with his girlfriend in a forested area near their village.
Tamilvanan was a student at K Ramakrishnan college of engineering in Trichy. He and his girlfriend had previously studied together, and she is currently a nursing student while he was pursuing engineering. On January 14, around 7 pm, they had both gone to a forested area near Siruganur, about 20 kilometres from his college, to spend some time together. But soon the men from a nearby village spotted the couple and were allegedly enraged by the fact that a man and woman were alone in a secluded area and began questioning them. An altercation broke out in which Tamilavanan was stabbed. He died after succumbing to his injuries.
For weeks now, efforts have been underway to nab those responsible for his death.
"We remanded the two accused on Saturday. They are both painters and after Pongal they were going to go buy alcohol. They stopped on the way to relieve themselves in the forest area. That is when they spotted the couple," says Trichy Superintendent of Police Ziaul Haque. "Their headlight hit the two of them who were near a bush and they immediately began questioning them. They asked the couple where they were from and Tamilvanan lied to avoid trouble. But unfortunately he named the village of the accused. Angered by the fact that he was lying, they took hold of his collar and then the matter escalated," he adds.
Investigations revealed that the accused were carrying a knife that's typically used to cut or sharpen bamboo stalks.
"When the argument got heated, they stabbed the young boy. The girl was safe because she was standing 10 metres away from them," says the police official.
After stabbing, the accused then absconded from the location. Since the spot where the crime occurred was far removed from the closest hospital, Tamilvanan was left to bleed for far too long before the ambulance arrived, and succumbed to the wound inflicted on him. His girlfriend has identified both the culprits and confirmed their involvement in the crime.