Tamil Nadu: DYFI member murdered in suspected caste feud

A gang hacked to death a 25-year-old DYFI member at Karaiyiruppu village near Thachanallur around 10.30pm on Wednesday, sparking tension in the region. Relatives of the slain man, Ashok, and fellow villagers from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community blocked the Tirunelveli-Madurai highway in protest.
The villagers accused police of ignoring their warning that a caste clash was brewing. They and police suspect the attackers were from another community.
The Tirunelveli police said Ashok, the local DYFI secretary, worked in a tyre-making firm at Gangaikondan and reached Karaiyiruppu by bus on Wednesday night. He got off at Karaiyiruppu Kombu office bus stop and was on foot when he was stopped by a few men.
Armed with machetes and other deadly weapons they hacked him to death and abandoned his body in bushes close to the railway track. Agitated relatives and villagers who got came to know about it rushed to the spot, staged a protest on the highway and also stopped the police from taking his body to the government hospital for autopsy.
Tirunelveli police commissioner N Baskaran and other officers rushed to the spot and tried to pacify the protesters.