Kin boycott Ilavarasan panel

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Dharmapuri: Family members of deceased Dalit youth, Ilavarasan, on Thursday failed to appear before the state government-constituted one-man commission, headed by retired judge S.R.Singaravelu, to probe his death.
“More than 30 affidavits were received from officials and others. Summons will be issued to the relatives of Ilavarasan and Divya to appear before the commission which will hold an inquiry again on August 26 and 27,” the judge said.
Ilavarasan, a resident of Natham colony here, had married a Vanniya girl, Divya, and his subsequent death under suspicious circumstances had created tension in Dharmapuri. The police had recovered Ilavarasan’s dead body on July 4 near a railway track behind Dharmapuri Arts College here.
Ilavarasan’s father T. Elangovan, who claims that there was foul play though police found a suicide note, asked, “Why should we appear before the commission when our demand to change Singaravelu as its head was not accepted?” He said he had filed an appeal petition in the Madras high court regarding this, with the matter coming up for hearing on August 14.
“Singaravelu has acted against Dalits in the past. We wanted another commission head who may expose the caste conspiracy that was at work in Ilavarasan’s death,” he said.
Singaravelu, who inspected the spot where Ilavarasan was found dead, said, “It is unbelievable that he committed suicide when calculated against the speed of the train that hit the youth and the spot where his dead body was found.”
Not ruling out the possibility of foul play over the death of Illavarasan, he added, “It may be also be a case of homicide, committed by a person who insisted that he write the suicide note, offering him the compensation of having Divya and a lost paradise back.”
The retired judge said police reports submitted before the commission would not influence the inquiry.