Day after, councillor gives up

Two more persons, including a Thiruvannamalai Municipality councillor, surrendered before the judicial magistrate at the district combined court complex on Tuesday in connection with the murder of activist Rajamohan Chandra. Chandra (53) was hacked by unidentified persons and his body was found metres away  from his house, on Monday.

Venkatesan (35), councillor of Ward 26 of Tiruvannamalai Municipality, and his elder brother Selvam (38) surrendered before the magistrate.

The brothers were remanded in judicial custody and sent to the Vellore Central Prison for Men.

The Ward 26 councillor was also a history-sheeter and was absconding since May 23 this year after assaulting district secretary of CPI(M), M Veerabadran.

Venkatesan’s associates, Murugan (32) and Chandra Sekaran (29), had previously surrendered before the court in Polur on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, the Tiruvannamalai police arrested Venkatesan’s father Kasi (alias) Veerasamy (65), and Selvam’s wife Meenakshi (35) in connection with the case.

The police would approach the courts for custody of the accused to conduct interrogation. “Only after a thorough investigation, we will be able to tell the motive behind the murder,” said R V Ramya Bharathi, superintendent of police.

Silenced by Anti-Socials

Meanwhile, social activist Rajmohan Chandra was laid to rest on Tuesday.

Though silenced by anti-social elements, his efforts for the poor and the helpless continued to speak volumes. The victims of land grab, who were helped by Chandra to get back their land, remembered him as a voice of the voiceless.

Standing firm against errant government officials for nearly a decade in Tiruvannamalai, Chandra, an engineering graduate from Anna University, exposed dishonest activities of corrupt government officials. 

“In the process, he earned the animosity of the top district officials in revenue, police and other departments,” said a beneficiary of Chandra’s work on condition of anonymity. “Several false cases were filed against him since 2006, but he did not bow down.”

Kavitha Valentine, Chandra’s younger sister, said, “My brother was mentally prepared for death. Though we tried to convince him to mellow his attitude toward corrupt government officials, he continued to help the poor and underprivileged.”

Valentine said that a mo-nth ago, some of his enemies even poisoned one of his four pet dogs, which subsequently died.

Sir Pitti Thyagarajan, one of the three founders of Justice Party, was the great gra-nd uncle of Chandra. He settled at Rajiv Gandhi Nagar along Girivalam Path in the temple town ten years ago and voluntarily reached out to the victims of land grabbing and other corrupt activities.

“After running pillar to post for two years to get back my house from money lenders, I decided to commit suicide in the Collectorate to air my anguish,” said Krishnaveni, a victim of land grab. The police stopped her from the suicide bid. The news was flashed across all newspapers the next day. “Chandra came in search of me and helped me get back my house. He did not even expect a single paise from me,” said Krishnaveni.

He fought against the encroachers of Vaira Kundru and provided legal aid to District Secretary of CPI(M), M Veerabadran.  Veerabadran was attacked by Venkatesan, for raising  questions against his illegal activities.