Members of Thamirabarani Pathukappu Iyakkam, an organisation that works to save river Thamirabarani, have given a petition to the Thoothukudi district collector to take action against police personnel in connection with the murder of Murappanadu Village Administrative Officer (VAO) Lourdu Francis. On April 25, Lourdu was hacked to death by Ramasubbu and Marimuthu for taking action against illegal sand mining. The incident happened in broad daylight in the VAO office, which is located just 100 metres away from the police station.
On April 27, a group of people from the organisation in their petition said that former and present-day sub-inspectors of Murappanadu police station were taking bribes from the persons engaged in illegal sand mining.
They alleged that the illegal sand mining in areas like Kaliyavur, Anandhanambikurichi, Manakkarai, Aazhikudi, Sennelpatti, and Marudhur - where Thamirabarani flows - happens with the connivance of police officers from Murappanadu police station. In the petition, they also alleged that the former SI of the station Suresh Kumar, and present-day SI Antony Raj, encouraged illegal sand mining activities and accepted bribes. “When Murappanadu VAO Lourdu made a complaint against Ramasubbu, the police officers did not arrest the latter,” they alleged.
According to their petition, Ramasubbu, who was involved in illegal sand mining, visited the police station and allegedly gave Rs 35,000 as a bribe to the SI and other police personnel. “Instead of arresting him, the police informed him that Lourdu made a complaint against him,” the petition read.
It was mentioned in the petition that they (police) could have stopped the death of Lourdu if they had taken preventive measures by arresting Ramasubbu, adding that they also urged the district administration to probe Murappanadu Inspector Jamal, SI Antony, special branch constable Mahalingam and to take action against them. The members of Thamirabarani Pathukappu Iyakkam also demanded that the collector form a special team under the supervision of the Superintendent of Police to control the illegal sand mining from the river Thamirabarani.
On April 13, Lourdu lodged a complaint against Ramasubbu for illegally mining sand from the Thamirabarani river bed. According to the First Information Report (FIR) dated April 13, Lourdu, along with his colleague Ganesan, inspected the area early in the morning of April 13 after the VAO office received complaints regarding illegal sand mining. The duo went to Kaliyavur where they found a resident named Ramasubbu, loading sand into a van along with two other men. When Ramasubbu and his aides saw the VAO personnel, they fled the spot with the van. Lourdu, later, filed a complaint.
Two weeks after his complaint with the police, on April 25, Ramasubbu barged into the Murappanadu VAO office with another man and hacked Lourdu to death with machetes, before fleeing the spot. Injured badly, Lourdu was rushed to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital where he failed to respond to treatment and died.