Tamil Nadu police forms SIT to probe Kallakurichi violence; SP and Collector transferred

The SIT was formed on a direction from the Madras HC which came down heavily on the protesters calling the violence at the school 'pre-planned'

Tamil Nadu police on Tuesday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) to probe Sunday’s violence at a private school whose student allegedly died by suicide and "unearth the entire conspiracy" behind the incident in which protesters burnt vehicles and vandalised classrooms.

The government also transferred Kallakurichi district collector P N Sridhar and Superintendent of Police (SP) S Selvakumar following Sunday’s violence and replaced them with Sravan Kumar Jatavath and P Pakalavan respectively.

The SIT was formed based on a direction from the Madras High Court which came down heavily on the protesters calling the violence at the school in Kallakurichi district “pre-planned.” As many as 52 policemen, including Villupuram DIG M Pandian and Kallakurichi SP, were injured when protesters went on a rampage and threw stones at the men in khaki.

Also Read | Kallakurichi violence: Madras High Court orders second post-mortem of 16-year-old girl

In an order, Director General of Police (DGP) C Sylendra Babu said the SIT will be headed by Praveen Kumar Abhinapu, DIG of Police, Salem Range, and that he will be assisted by five officers.

“The SIT shall unearth the entire conspiracy behind this incident, identify all the violators who are captured very well in the video footage, the persons who formed WhatsApp groups, spread false news which resulted in such rioting situations and take action as per law,” the order said.

It also said the SIT should take appropriate action to identify the Youtubers who had spread false news and conducted “parallel media” trials on YouTube. It also recommended that such channels be blocked.

The order, while mentioning that a status report will have to be filed before the Madras High Court during the next hearing later this month, also asked the SIT to periodically report progress of the investigation to the DGP.

As Sunday’s violence sent shock waves over 130 people were detained for their alleged role in the arson based on video evidence. Hundreds of students and locals had converged outside the campus at around 10 am on Sunday and entered the premises forcibly by overpowering the police, who were outnumbered till additional personnel joined in quelling protests.

Television footage showed protesters pushing down barricades, entering the school premises, setting buses parked on fire, and vandalising school name boards – some were seen taking away the furniture as police looked on helplessly. During the hearing on Monday, Justice Sathish Kumar said the protests turning violent suddenly did not appear to be an “act of provocation” but only appeared to be an “organised crime.”

The 16-year-old student, who belonged to neighbouring Cuddalore district, was staying in the school hostel, and allegedly jumped to death on July 12. However, the family alleged foul play in the death and demanded action against the school management citing the girl’s suicide note in which she has blamed two teachers for “torturing her” and the postmortem report which spoke of injury marks in her body.