Migrant worker set ablaze in Namakkal dies; another critical

COIMBATORE: One of the four migrant workers undergoing treatment for severe burns in the jaggery unit arson attack in Namakkal died at Government Medical College Hospital in Karur on Wednesday.

Nineteen-year-old T Rakesh from Odisha, who was set on fire by miscreants on May 14, succumbed to burns. Another migrant worker Sukuram, 20, of Chhattisgarh is also in a critical state with over 80 per cent burns, while two others Yashwant, 19, and Gokul, 24, were said to be stable.

Miscreants sneaked into the shed of the migrant workers, poured kerosene on the sleeping workers and set them on fire, before fleeing the jaggery unit of MGR alias Muthusamy in Jedarpalayam.

Workers staying in other sheds rushed in and doused the fire. The four injured migrant workers were then admitted to Government Medical College Hospital in Karur.

The attack was allegedly in retaliation for the murder of 27-year-old Nithya, wife of Vivekanandan on March 11. Though police arrested a 17-year-old boy, the family members of the victim and villagers suspected the hand of migrant workers in the murder.

Since then, there were continuous incidents of attacks targeting the sheds of migrant workers employed in jaggery units, though no casualties or injuries were reported. Meanwhile, Jedarpalayam police altered the attempt to murder charges into a murder case.

West Zone IG R Sudhakar said the situation has returned to normalcy in the Jedarpalayam locality.

“However, police personnel continued to be deployed as a precaution. Investigation is underway to nab the culprits,” IG Sudhakar said.