Kallakurichi SP, District Collector transferred after violence at school

Following the chaos that erupted in Tamil Nadu’s Kallakurichi after the death of a Class 12 student, the district Superintendent of Police, S Selvakumar, has been transferred from his post. He will be replaced by Triplicane Deputy Commissioner of Police, P Pakalavan, the state Home Department said in an order on Tuesday, July 19. The order, signed by Home Secretary Phanindra Reddy, states that the transfer has been ordered with immediate effect. The government has also initiated the transfer of Kallakurichi district Collector N Sridhar. He has now been posted as the project director of the Chennai-Kanyakumari industrial corridor project. Shravan Kumar Jatavath, the Additional Director of Agriculture, will replace Sridhar as the Collector of Kallakurichi.  

Massive protests were seen at the Kanimayoor Sakthi Matriculation school near Chinnasalem on Sunday, July 17, after a Class 12 student was found dead on campus on July 13. While her family and those close to her held peaceful protests outside the school, the situation took a violent turn when hundreds showed up at the site on Sunday and stormed the school. A slew of vehicles, including several school buses and a police van, were set on fire. A building was also set ablaze and many, including former SP Selvakumar, were injured. 

The Kallakurichi police have arrested as many as 300 people in connection with the violence, and they have been booked under charges of rioting and destruction of property. The Madras High Court, while hearing the petition of the deceased student’s parents seeking re-postmortem and CB-CID, came down heavily on the protesters on Monday, July 18. The court maintained that such a violent protest “was not mere eruption of sudden provocation, rather, it appears to be motivated, planned and calculated. There is some force behind it.”

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) C Sylendra Babu on Tuesday, July 19, announced the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe in-depth into the riot, arson and connected incidents in Kaniyamoor in Kallakurichi. The SIT will take up the investigation immediately. Praveen Kumar Abhinapu, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Salem range, will head the investigation and he would be assisted by 5 high ranking officials, an order issued by the DGP office here said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin took stock of the situation on Tuesday and chaired a high-level meeting with School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and senior officials, through video conference.