There have been complaints that the CBI police have portrayed the victims as the culprits in the case of the drinking water tank used by Scheduled Caste people in Vengaivayal village. The fact that the DMK alliance party leaders themselves have demanded a CBI investigation has called into question the charge sheet filed by the CBI police.
Vengaivayal village under Muttukadu panchayat is located on the left side of the highway leading from Trichy to Pudukkottai. The incident of the upper water tank used in the village, which is inhabited by Scheduled Caste people, mixed with feces has caused a stir not only in Tamil Nadu but also in the entire country.
The investigation of the case was transferred to the CBI police after various protests were held across Tamil Nadu demanding the arrest of the culprits involved in such heinous acts.
Despite conducting various stages of investigation, including questioning more than a hundred people, fact-finding tests, and DNA tests on more than 50 people, the CBCID police were unable to get close to the real culprits. Meanwhile, to increase the pressure on the government, a one-man commission headed by a retired judge was formed and the investigation failed to identify the culprits, leading to severe dissatisfaction among the public.
Two years after the Vengaivayal incident, the chargesheet filed by the CBCID police in the court states that Murali Raja, the president of the Muttukadu panchayat, had spread false information that there was a smell in the drinking water with the intention of taking revenge on Padma Muttukadu panchayat president, who had dismissed the water tank operator Shanmugam, and that after that, Muttukrishnan and Sudarshan had climbed onto the water tank and were involved in these criminal acts.
Furthermore, a video of Sudarshan and Muthukrishnan with a bag of feces on the water tank in question, as well as photos and video footage of them taking selfies, have been released, creating a stir. In addition, a phone conversation between Sudarshan, the accused in the case, and his mother and relatives has also been leaked.
While the authenticity of this video and phone conversation has not yet been confirmed, how did the photos and videos, which have not been released for two years, come out after the chargesheet was filed? How can people from the affected areas be the culprits in the feces-mixing case? Has the chargesheet been prepared in this way to protect the real culprits? With various political parties insisting on changing the investigation to the CBI, have people from the Scheduled Castes been charged with no other option? Various doubts and questions have arisen in the chargesheet filed by the CBI CID police.
Stating that the chargesheet filed in the court is aimed at protecting the real culprits, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Nadu, Thol. Thirumavalavan, has urged the Tamil Nadu government to come forward and hand over the case to the CBI for investigation. The Communist Party of India-Marxist, another ally in the DMK alliance, has also urged the Tamil Nadu government to take the same view.
While many social activists have criticized the investigation of the case for being biased towards the affected Scheduled Caste people from the very beginning, the fact that the same people from the Scheduled Caste have now been charged has raised great doubts. Political party leaders and social activists have raised their voices that the only way to find the real culprits is to hand over the investigation of the Vengaivayal case, which is full of doubts and questions, to the CBI.
