'We Demand Death Penalty For All Accused': Father of Solider Killed in Mob Attack In Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: The father of an Indian Army soldier, who was mercilessly beaten to death by a mob, has demanded death sentence for all the 9 accused arrested in the case. He also regretted that no compensation has been announced by the government yet and no one from the ruling DMK came to console the bereaved family. Madaiyya, the father of M Prabhu, the deceased Indian Army soldier, also stated that the Chief Minister, MK Stalin should have come to meet them.

The grief-stricken elderly man said that he is worried about the future of his two grandsons. “What will happen to them now? My son was just 28 years old,” he said adding, ''all the accused should be sentenced to death."

M Prabhu, an Army jawan, succumbed after he was severely thrashed by a DMK functionary and his accomplices in Pochampally in Krishnagiri district. Prabhu, who was posted in Srinagar with the Military Police, had been to his native Vellampatti village, Poochampally, on leave. He was expected to report for duty on February 10, according to Rama Nandagopal, president of Krishnagiri district BJP Ex-Servicemen Wing.

But on February 8, an altercation ensued between the DMK functionary Chinnaswamy and Prabhu and the latter's elder brother Prabhakaran, serving as a gunner in the Indian Army, over washing clothes near the town panchayat's water tank.

Later, in the evening, both the brothers were attacked allegedly by Chinnaswamy and his men. Prabhu was admitted to a private hospital in Hosur where he succumbed on February 15 while Prabhakaran is undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Nandagopal said during his interaction with some of the affected family members, he came to know that Prabhu and his brother Prabharakan rushed to their father Madhaiyan's rescue when he was first attacked by a group of men.

A first information report (FIR) registered by the Nagarasampatty police, Krishnagiri district, named 9 people including Chinnaswamy and his son Gurusuryamoorthy as accused.

Veteran Lt Col N Thiagarajan, who is senior vice president of TN Akhil Bharatiya Poorva Sainik Parishad, said the DMK councillor and his aides beating a soldier to death is unfortunate and highly condemnable. "This is very disturbing. Stringent action should be taken on the attackers," he said.

Speaking to reporters in Krishnagiri, Superintendent of Police Saroj Kumar Thakur said all the nine people involved in the crime have been arrested. A large number of BJP workers and ex-servicemen staged a protest in Krishnagiri and many parts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday demanding stringent action against the assailants.