Man succumbs to burn injuries

Chennai: Sekar (56), who immolated himself in front of the Secretariat last Saturday, succumbed to his burns at the Kilpauk medical college hospital around 3 pm on Tuesday. A native of Kondalampatti, in Salem district, Sekar, a casual laborer, was fighting a legal battle over his ancestral property at Kitchipalayam. S. Thamizharasan (34), his son who was present to receive Sekar’s body says that the dispute has been on for more than five decades.

On Saturday, Sekar came to the CM’s cell to file a petition regarding the property dispute. He also carried a can of kerosene, and used the fuel to set himself on fire, taking security personnel and people by surprise. Sekar’s wife Shanthi (50) and other members of the family were not aware of the incident until they read about it in the newspapers. He had not informed anybody that he was going to file a petition.

He left for Chennai on September 1, saying that he was to meet an advocate regarding an attempt to murder case against them, which Thamizharasan says is a framed case. In 2011, Sekar and his youngest son, Saravanan, who has learning disabilities, went to Kitchipalayam for work and stayed for a day at their ancestral house when two hired mercenaries ransacked the house and attacked them.

Thamizharasan says that his father acted in retaliation, an act that left the two attackers with deep cut injuries on the abdomen and spine. The case is on and the family of casual labourers has neither the emotional nor monetary strength to handle the case. Thamizharasan feels that the judiciary is prejudiced against them. “Is the judicial system myopic to people from the lower strata of society? Is it meant to serve only those in the creamy layers?” asks Thamizharasan.

However, he is unaware of the details of the property his father was fighting for. The eldest of four brothers, he stays with his family at Vijayamangalam, in Erode. Sekar’s body will be handed over to the family after autopsy and investigations on Wednesday, the police said. The family is in no mood to fight the property dispute, at least in the near future.