TRICHY: Vengai Jayal case transferred from special court

Tiruchi: The case related to mixing of faeces in a drinking water tank located in a Scheduled Caste locality in Vengaivayal has been transferred from the special court for hearing cases under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act to the Pudukkottai District Magistrate on Monday. The development comes after the special court accepted the forensic findings of the state CB-CID, which said that since the accused in the case were found to be from the same community, there was no motive to commit atrocities against the SC/ST communities, and hence, there was no need to hear the case in the special court. There was massive outrage across the state after reports of mixing of human faeces in the overhead tank (OHT) in Vengaivayal Dalit colony came to light on December 26, 2022.

After a preliminary investigation conducted by the local police for about a month, the investigation of the case was handed over to the CB-CID by the DGP in January 2023. The investigating agency filed its chargesheet in January this year, holding 3 Dalits guilty in the crime. The state government had said the cause of the December 2022 incident was a clash between two groups over past animosity and not an inter-caste conflict. The CB-CID findings have triggered a political standoff in the state, with two key DMK allies – the CPM and the VCK – both criticising the chargesheet and demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The opposition AIADMK and the BJP also demanded a CBI probe, while TVK chief Vijay sought a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the direct monitoring of the Madras High Court.