Agent Bait Turned Out to be Deathtrap: Families

 By J Shanmugha Sundaram Published: 10th April 2015

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Mahendran (22), one of the victims from Tiruvannamalai killed in an alleged encounter by Andhra Pradesh’s Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force, had nurtured aspirations to become a policeman.

The youth had applied to the Tamil Nadu Special Police Youth Brigade, according to his family and close friends. Mahendran was one of seven others from Murugapadi, Kalasamuthiram and Vettagiripalayam village who were picked up by AP cops on a bus en-route to Tirupathi, according to relatives. “Mahendran applied to the Youth Brigade and was also looking hard to get a job. He was earlier working as a plumber in a private firm in Sholinganallur at Chennai,” said Mahendran’s childhood friend Kumar.

Relatives of Palani, another victim in the shootout and who was the father of a 40-day male child, said they were not aware that he had fallen prey to the Red Sanders gang. He had completed his B.Ed and had worked as a teacher in a few schools in the vicinity for three years. He had opted out of the teaching job due to poor pay and switched over to the profession of tailoring, which also did not give enough earnings to support his family. “(Palani) told me that he was going to buy thread on Monday afternoon and left,” said his father Velu.  Palani’s 21 year-old wife Loganayaki was sitting with their newborn child, an uncertain future looming large.

Patchaiammal,(21), wife of another victim, Murthy of Murugapadi, said that they celebrated their first wedding anniversary on Feb 2. The couple have a 4-month-old girl. Despite owning an acre of land, poor rain and drought forced him to be a farm worker. He also worked as a server in marriage halls.

All these relatives of the victims hold one Venkatesan of Pudur, an agent of a Red Sanders gang responsible for the deaths. “Venkatesan met with Murthy, several of the victims and convinced them to take up woodcutting for better pay. He even told them that they would be working in government-permitted areas and it involves no risk,” claimed Murthy’s relatives.

Murugan, father of two children aged three and four, and Sasikumar (yet another victim of the shootout), both from Vettagiripalayam, were painters and were good friends. Their families claimed that they did not know anything till the police knocked on their doors on Tuesday evening with the photos of their bodies.

Close shave

45-year-old Sekar (in pic) of Murgapadi narrowly escaped death as he was not arrested by AP cops while travelling with seven other victims on a bus