Vengaivayal caste crime: Chargesheet filed against 3 persons; incident motivated by personal rivalry

The Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CBCID), on Friday, informed the Madras High Court that it has completed the probe into the 2022 Vengaivayal caste crime case, where human faeces was found in a drinking water overhead tank. The report submitted before the court said the crime was motivated by a personal vendetta against the panchayat head and her husband.

The report said three Dalit men from the village mixed faecal matter in water due to a personal rivalry with the local panchayat head.

Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice K.R. Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran informed that the CBCID had completed the probe after examining 127 witnesses and 57 documents. The probe has identified three accused— Murali Raja, Sudarshan, and Muthukrishnan, Ravindran.

Faecal matter was found in the drinking water in an overhead tank in the Vengaivasal village in Pudukottai district in December 2022, leading to a massive outrage among the people in Tamil Nadu. The issue came to the fore after children began to feel ill.

The incident triggered a massive caste outrage among the people in the region and political parties in the state demanded a detailed probe. The case was handed over to the CBCID from the Pudukottai police. However, the ruling DMK came under pressure from all circles in the Vengaivasal issue and was criticised by its own alliance partners like the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK).

In 2023, a PIL was filed by K. Rajkamal and Marx Raveendran alias V. Raveendran seeking direction to expedite the probe. The PIL also demanded that the case be transferred to the CBI. The Madras High Court, hearing the PIL, expressed unhappiness over the slow progress of the investigation in the case.

On Friday the CBCID informed the court that the probe has been concluded and the final report has been filed against three persons, before the jurisdictional magistrate on January 20, 2025.

However, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan asked the Madras High Court not to accept the investigation report of the CBCID and demanded a CBI probe. CPI(M) state secretary P. Shanmugam said the reason given by the police was not substantial and it is as if the police, by blaming the Dalit youths, want to close the case.