Youth ends life, angry kin block Salem-Madurai NH

SALEM: Villagers of Vazhakuttapatti near Mallur in Salem district joined the relatives of a 27-year-old youth who allegedly committed suicide after being cheated in a job racket, to stage a massive road-roko, holding up vehicular traffic on Salem-Madurai NH for over two hours on Thursday. They demanded immediate action those responsible for the youth's suicide.

Police said the dejected youth, Sakthivel, son of an agriculturist, Annadurai and Poongkodi, was found hanging from the thatched roof of a hut next to house in the village when his parents had been away for work. His elder brother Manikandan, 29, had also gone out on some personal work early today.

On information, Mallur police rushed to the spot and retrieved Sakthivel's body and sent it to Salem GH for post-mortem. Police also found on his body a ten-page detailed 'letter' apparently explaining what pushed him to take his life.

Even as Sakthivel's relatives who had arrived by then handed over the victim's mobile phone to the police, suspecting he has video-graphed his act of suicide with the cell phone camera, the cops on examining it found no such video clips, sources said. This angered the youth's relatives who alleged that the police while examining Salthivel's mobile had deleted the purported suicide video clips.

The youth's relatives got into a heated argument with the police, then took delivery of his body only to place it on the middle of the Salem-Madurai NH and blocked the vehicular traffic, demanding that police should also taken action against those responsible for Sakthivel's tragic suicide.

The letter left behind by Sakthivel revealed that he had been over a period of time forced to part with a total of Rs.14.30 lakh, by a group of people including some State government staff, after promising him to get a government job. Sakthivel had taken the TNPSC exam in 2014 when a friend of his, Mahesh had allegedly assured him of a placement for a sum as "he knew people in TNPSC". Sakthivel was later asked to report for a job, after telling him it was a placement in the PWD department in Kallakurichi, police said, after examining the contents of the letter. Later, under the pretext of getting him 'confirmed in the job', Mahesh and his associates continued to extort money from Sakthivel. The latter paid up to Rs.14.30 lakh only to realise he was cheated.

Police said Sakthivel had named eight persons in the letter who were responsible for his extreme action. The list included some government staff as well. After Salem additional SP, Suresh Kumar assured the agitated kin that necessary action will be taken, the crowd dispersed from the place, police sources added.