OBC leader Yuvaraj on a poster, murdered Dalit boy Gokulraj
In a dramatic development to the tragic Gokulraj-murder case, the Gounder leader accused of murdering the Dalit boy for interacting with a Gounder-girl, Yuvaraj, has released an audio-clip addressing his community. The caste-fanatic leader, who is now on the run from the police and claims to be in Bengaluru, takes on the police for having political motivations to go after him and asks community members to be calm and not worry.
He says that the murder case was a “normal’ one with ‘nothing in it”. There are so many other such cases pending against the police for killing men from the Gounder-caste in which little or no action is being taken, he says. “One IG, one DIG, three SPs and scores of other inspectors are after me over this case, why are they so bothered about this case?” he asks.
Reassuring his fellow caste-men, and perhaps making a veiled threat, he says, “It is not that we don’t know how to put a full stop to this, it is not like we don’t have the money or muscle power to respond to the police. But I want people to know how bad the situation is, I want people of our caste to understand the condition our community is in.” He however adds later that he has asked everyone to remain calm.
“We will apply for anticipatory bail in the Madras High Court soon, then we will show them who we are,” says Yuvaraj.
He accuses the police of using this opportunity to “finish-off” him and the Dheeran Chinnamalai Peravai, the caste-out fit he heads. The News Minute has been consistently reporting on the case. Read more about the Peravai and the murder-case here. You can also read here about how Yuvaraj operated a caste-Gestapo to crack down on inter-caste marriages. The police have arrested nine individuals so far related to Gokulraj’s death, which has been confirmed to be a murder following post-mortem.
Dalit political parties and leaders say that the silence of ruling-party AIADMK in this issue is deafening. “I am asking a political question, why are ministers in the government and AIADMK leaders not talking about this? Why are they maintaining silence?” asks Vanni Arasu, Spokesperson of the VCK, a political party seeking to protect rights of Dalits, “This is the first time that an outfit like this has directly taken action against inter-caste marriage in the Kongu region.” AIADMK is known to have a strong voter-base in this region.
“Yuvaraj is in touch with several lawyers, the police can catch him if they really want,” he adds.
In the audio, released by Yuvaraj to be distributed on WhatsApp, he also says that his caste-community is more important to him than anything else. He says that he will not be moved by the emotions of family or by the power-lust of politics. "While fighting for the Tamils, LTTE Prabhakaran lost his entire family. This is nothing compared to that," he says.
The police have interrogated many and made several arrests in the case for allegedly helping Yuvaraj in kidnapping and murdering Gokulraj or providing shelter to him after the murder.