Tamil Nadu girl’s death: State government forms SIT, transfers Kallakurichi collector and SP

Two days after violence erupted in a private residential school in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi district over the death of a schoolgirl in the hostel, the Tamil Nadu government has constituted a special investigation team to probe the rioting and arson, director general of police C Sylendra Babu said on Tuesday.

The special team, being set up on orders by the Madras high court, will be led by Praveen Kumar Abhinapu, deputy inspector general of police, Salem range.

“The SIT shall unearth entire conspiracy behind this incident, identify all the violators who are captured very well in the video footages, the persons who formed Whatsapp groups, spread fake news which resulted in the rioting situation and taken action as per law,” Babu said in a statement. Investigators will also identify Youtubers who conducted a media trial on their channels.

Abhinapu will be assisted by five senior police officers and will submit a status report when the high court hears the matter again on July 29.

The state government on Tuesdaytransferred Kallakurichi’s district collector P N Srinath and superintendent of police S Selvakumar, who was one of the 52 police personnel injured when protestors pelted stones, vandalised school property and set fire to school buses and police vans on July 17.

Sravan Kumar Jatavath, additional director of agriculture, will replace Srinath as the new district collector and P Pakalavan, deputy commissioner of police, Triplicane, Chennai, will replace Selvakumar.

On July 13 morning, the class 12 student from Periyanesalur village in neighbouring Cuddalore district was found dead in the school’s hostel premises. Her family and relatives have alleged foul play.

The case was transferred to the state’s criminal investigation department after the high court intervened on Monday after P Ramalingam, the girl’s father, petitioned for a second autopsy. Justice Sathish Kumar, however, rejected the father’s request for a doctor of the family’s choice to conduct the post-mortem.

The parents challenged this in the Supreme Court, which on Tuesday refused to stay the second autopsy scheduled later in the day. An urgent motion was moved by Tamil Nadu’s public prosecutor Hasan Moammed Jinnah that the court-appointed team of doctors was ready but the girl’s parents could not be located. Justice Kumar allowed the second autopsy to proceed even if the parents stayed away.

Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin held a meeting via videoconferencing on Tuesday, since he has just recovered from Covid-19, with the state police chief, school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and other officers on the incident.

Police have made hundreds of arrests in connection with the death and subsequent violence, including the school’s principal, secretary and two teachers. A suicide note was found in third floor room of the deceased girl, in which she named two teachers, police said.