Sanitary workers with their petition at the Collectorate in Tirunelveli on Monday.
| Photo Credit: A, SHAIKMOHIDEEN
Accusing the police of ‘falsely framing’ her husband in a murder case, the wife of an accused man on Monday submitted a petition seeking CB-CID probe into the case.In the petition submitted to Collector Anand Mohan during the weekly grievances redressal meeting, R. Malar Shanthi of Vadakku Nellaiyappapuram near Paruththipaadu in Nanguneri Taluk said the Moolaikkaraipatti police picked up her husband P. Ramesh and his elder brother P. Selvakumar for inquiry on March 17, after Arumugam, a farmer of the same area, was found murdered. Since the police could not get any ‘useful information’ from them during inquiry, they were let-off on March 19. As instructed by the police, they were in Kanniyakumari until the arrest of the murderers.When Arumugam’s daughter ended her life following the delay in the arrest of the real culprits behind the murder, the police arrested Ramesh and Selvakumar, accusing them of abetting the suicide of the girl.Even though they were enlarged on bail with the condition that they should sign in the Kovilpatti Judicial Magistrate Court in the morning and evening, the police advised them against coming to Vadakku Nellaiyappapuram. Only after a petition was submitted with the Inspector General of Police, South Zone, on May 25, they were allowed to come to their native place.“However, Ramesh and Selvakumar were picked up by the police again on May 29, and only Selvakumar was released while the whereabouts of Ramesh is not known. When Arumugam was found murdered, the family of the deceased named Ramesh, Selvakumar, and four others as suspects in their complaint. Since our ranch is adjacent to Arumugam’s field and my brothers-in-law would go to the field in the night on turn basis for irrigation, my brother-in-law Soosaimuthu saw Arumugam’s body when he was returning home in his bike on March 17 and informed others about the murder. However, the police forced the wife of the deceased to give a complaint against Soosaimuthu and Ramesh and framed a fake case against our family members in the case pertaining to the suicide of Arumugam’s daughter. Hence, the government should order a CB-CID inquiry to arrest the real culprits of this case,” said Ms. Malar Shanthi.Members of Tirunelveli District Rural Development Employees Union submitted a petition to the Collector seeking increased wages of ₹732 a day to sanitary workers as ordered by the High Court and mandated by the previous Collector.The petitioners said over 20,000 daily wage sanitary workers of the local bodies of Tirunelveli district got ₹540 a day as daily wage. Even though the district administrations of Kanniyakumari, Tenkasi and Thoothukudi had fixed ₹732 as daily wage for sanitary workers and the local bodies of the three districts were being given increased wages, the local bodies of Tirunelveli district were refusing to give the upwardly revised wages. Hence, the local bodies should be instructed to give the daily wage of ₹732 to their sanitary workers. Published - June 01, 2026 07:35 pm IST
