Dharapuram police arrested a ward member under provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on charges of threatening the president of Kavandachipudur village panchayat in Tiruppur district.
S. Kuppusamy (40), member of Ward No. 6 in the village panchayat and two other men, threatened Panchayat president R. Selvi (33) on August 14 to withdraw a police complaint that she had lodged against him on May, the police said. The accused was already booked by the Dharapuram police under the SC/ST Act on charges of using casteist slurs and issuing threats to the Dalit Panchayat president.
Ms. Selvi lodged a fresh complaint at the Dharapuram police station on August 14 following this incident.
Kuppusamy and his two accomplices, Gopalakrishnan and Deva, were booked under sections 3(1) (p) (institutes false, malicious or vexatious suit or criminal or other legal proceedings against a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe) and 3 (1)(r) (intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view) of the SC/ST Act along with section 506 (1) (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
After 10 days, a team from the Dharapuram police station arrested Kuppusamy on Tuesday. He was admitted to Tiruppur Government Medical College Hospital after he was diagnosed with high blood pressure during a medical check-up.
As of Wednesday, the accused was stable and undergoing treatment at the hospital, according to the police. Efforts to arrest the remaining two accused are on, Dharapuram police said.