A day after an Army jawan serving in Kashmir alleged that his wife was attacked and molested by a mob in Tamil Nadu, the police said that the claims made by the jawan and his family members were “exaggerated.” The incident came to light after a retired Army Officer, Lt Col N Thiagarajan, posted a video on Twitter of Havildar Prabhakaran, who had alleged that his wife Keerthi, who runs a shop in Tiruvannamalai district, was beaten up by 120 men. He also alleged that the mob molested his wife and ransacked the shop. The jawan had appealed to Tamil Nadu DGP to take action against those who attacked his wife. Prabhakaran, currently posted in Kashmir, hails from Tiruvannamalai, Padavedu village.
The Tiruvannamalai police conducted a preliminary inquiry and found there was a dispute between the relatives of the jawan and a person named Ramu, who had rented out his shop to Prabhakaran’s family. According to the police, the shop was built on land belonging to Renugambal temple and was leased out to Prabhakaran’s father-in-law Selvamurthy for Rs 9.5 lakh for five years.
The shop owner wanted Prabhakaran’s family to vacate the shop and an agreement was signed by them to return the lease money and vacate the shop by February 10, 2023. The shop owner Ramu alleges that the jawan’s relatives failed to honour the agreement and refused to vacate the shop.
On June 10, when the shop owner Ramu visited the shop to return the lease money, Prabhakaran's brother-in-law Jeeva attacked Ramu with a knife and he suffered head injuries. According to the police, a scuffle broke out between the duo. Onlookers who saw Ramu bleeding came to his rescue and they ransacked the shop
Contradicting Prabhakaran’s claim, the Tiruvannamalai police said the onlookers barged into the shop, but they did not assault his wife and mother as he claimed. Tiruvannamalai Superintendent of Police Karthikeyan said police constables have been posted at the hospital where Prabhakaran's wife, Keerthi is under treatment, for her safety.
Reacting to the incident, Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai took to Twitter and asked his party men to reach out to the jawan's family. “Truly gutted to hear her story and I felt ashamed that this had happened to her on our Tamil soil,” he posted.
After receiving complaints from both sides, the Tiruvannamalai police registered an FIR in connection with the incident. Meanwhile, Lt Col N Thiagarajan, who first posted the video of Prabhakaran on social media, also shared the press release issued by Tiruvannamalai district police terming the allegations levelled by the jawan’s family as exaggerated and demanded a free and fair inquiry.