Cauvery Basin2

Tamil Research Institution (TRI)
them. So the team decided to go to the village of the deceased. Accordingly, the team
divided into two and S. Palaniammal, Adv. Baskar, Dhanalakshmi and Aseerwatham went to
Polur and Jamunamarathur Region and Adv. Ravi and Senthilraja went to the Sitheri Hills in
Dharmapuri District.
On 09.10.2015 at about 1.30 a.m. we reached Polur and stayed at a lodge. At about 9.00
a.m. the next morning, a Reporter from Puthiya Thalaimurai contacted Ms. Palaniammal
from our team over cellphone and asked, “We have got information that Sekar, the eyewitness
who escaped from Tirupati is in your protection. Is this true?” We informed the
reporter that it was not true. Then we saw news being telecast on Kalaignar News Channel
that the eye-witness was in the custody of an NGO. Then we contacted the number
9952350579 that we had got earlier and introduced ourselves. The person who responded
said, “We had been searching for you. Where are you now?” We told him that we were
staying at the nearby Polur. Then Koundar Murthy said, “Come to Pudur Village immediately.
Sekar who escaped the encounter is under our protection. Come immediately.” Our team
hired a Tata Safari car and sped to Pudur Village at about 10.30 a.m.
When the team reached the Mariamman Temple in Pudur Village, the Panchayat President
Santhamurthy, Koundar Murthy, the eye-witness Sekar, his wife Thanjaiammal and his son
Prakash were waiting there. The Panchayat President pointed at Sekar and said that he was
the one who had escaped before the encounter and that the others who had gone for work
with him had died in the encounter. Then we asked Sekar about the incident. He narrated
the incident in brief. Then on the basis of what the Panchayat President gave in writing, we
assured that we would present the witness before the National Human Rights Commission
and brought him with us.
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