Caste killing: Courts finds man guilty of murdering brother, SC girl in Mettupalayam

Coimbatore: The special court for the trial of cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the district on Thursday found a 30-year-old man guilty of murdering his brother and a minor girl in a case of a caste killing near Mettupalayam in 2019.The special court sessions judge, K Vivekananthan, convicted the first accused, K Vinothkumar, in the double murder case and acquitted three others - R Kanthavel, 26, S Iyappan, 36, and R Chinnaraj, 40, all residents of Mettupalayam. The court announced that the final arguments on the quantum of sentence for Vinothkumar would be held on January 29.According to a court source, Vinothkumar's younger brother K Kanagaraj, 22, a daily wage labourer from Velllipalayam Road near Mettupalayam, was in love with C Varshinipriya, who was 16 years old. "While Kanagaraj belonged to Valayar community, Varshinipriya was a Scheduled Caste (Arunthathiyar). Vinothkumar, also a daily wage labourer, refused to accept the relationship and advised Kanagaraj to quit the same. The two siblings often fought over the issue. However, Kanagaraj sought help from his father Karuppasamy to arrange his marriage. His father advised him to stay in a separate house for the time being, promising to arrange the marriage once the problem was solved."Kanagaraj took a rental house at Sri Rangarayan Odai area on Vellipalayam Road in June 2019 and started living with his lover, the source said. "When Vinothkumar came to know about this on June 25, 2019, he discussed his plans with his friends Kanthavel, Iyappan and Chinnaraj. He went to Kanagaraj's house around 5.15pm the same day and hacked the couple with a sickle. Kanagaraj died on the spot and the girl succumbed to her injuries in hospital two days later."The source said Kanthavel, Iyappan and Chinnaraj had allegedly promised to offer all assistance to Vinothkumar before and after the murder. The Mettupalayam police registered a case against the four and arrested them.Special public prosecutor Bhavani B Mohan said Vinothkumar was afraid that he would not get a bride if his younger brother married a SC girl. "So, he plotted the murder."