Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president and Chidambaram MP Thol Thirumavalavan met Chief Minister MK Stalin seeking a judicial probe in the Vengaivayal case on Monday, February 10. “The chargesheet filed by the CB-CID is not final. A judicial commission must be set up, headed by a retired judge from either a high court or the Supreme Court,” Thirumavalavan told media persons after his meeting with the CM. Further, in a post shared on his X handle, the VCK president added, “The people of Vengaivayal are furious that the chargesheet has been filed against Dalits—the very victims in the case.”
Earlier in January, the CB-CID filed its chargesheet in the case, accusing three Dalit men, including a police constable, of mixing human faeces into a drinking water tank used by Dalits in Vengaivayal village, Pudukottai district. The chargesheet drew widespread condemnation, anger, and disbelief. The alleged accused have been identified as Sudarshan, Muthukrishan, and Muraliraja.
In 2022, the contamination came to light after several Dalit children were hospitalised from drinking water from the tank. At the time, a case had been filed under the Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Act. However, the CB-CID now says that it was three Dalit men who had contaminated the tank in an alleged act of vengeance against the local panchayat head and her husband, who are from the Other Backward Class (OBC) Mutharaiyar community.
In his X post, Thirumavalavan also pointed out that the residents of Vengaivayal have been carrying out a silent demonstration against the CB-CID’s chargesheet. The chargesheet is yet to be accepted by the Pudukottai SC/ST special court. “Instead of considering the chargesheet final, a one-person judicial commission comprising a retired judge from either a high court or the Supreme Court must be constituted in order to conduct a thorough investigation and bring out the truth,” he added.
It must be noted that in April 2023, a one-person commission led by retired judge M Sathyanarayanan was set up by the Court. Later in September, Sathyanarayanan submitted an interim report to the Madras High Court, calling the investigation “tardy.”