The death of Gandhian anti-liquor activist Sasi Perumal, while staging a protest standing atop a mobile phone tower with a noose around his neck, on July 31 was due to hanging and there is no mystery surrounding the incident, the Tamil Nadu government told the Madras high court on Thursday . It did not, however, say whether it was a case of suicide or accidental death.
The death triggered agitations across the state with political parties stepping up their demand for total prohibition. Perumal, 59, was standing atop the 130-foot mobile phone tower demanding immediate closure of a Tasmac retail liquor outlet at Unnamalaikadai village in Kanyakumari district when he died.
The death happened in full public view and the postmortem report clearly stated that it was due to hanging, said public secretary Jatindra Nath Swain in a counteraffidavit filed in response to a petition by the activist's son Vivek demanding a judicial probe into the incident.
“He, being an old man, should not have climbed the 130ft tower in scorching heat, which led to exhaustion and consequently to his hanging. There is no negligence on the part of government officials,“ the officer said. A huge crowd of local activists, cadres of political parties and onlookers had obstructed police and fire service personnel from going anywhere near the tower to rescue Perumal, he said. Narrating the sequence of events, Swain said Perumal and one R Jayaseelan first started to climb the tow er. “While Jayaseelan stopped in the middle, Perumal reached the top of the tower.When police personnel closed in on the tower, Jayaseelan threatened that if they tried to save the duo they would commit self-immolation and would pour oil over the officials,“ the counter said. Perumal sat on the tower and tied one end of a rope round his neck and lashed the other end to a rod on the tower, it said, adding that a fire service officer who climbed the tower saw blood oozing from the nose and dripping over his chest. He cut the knot and brought him down. Perumal was rushed to Kuzhithurai government hospital, where he was declared `brought dead', the counter said.
“Many local politicians, including an MLA, also told the of cluding an MLA, also told the officials that if they tried to bring down Perumal and Jayaseelan, people hiding in surrounding places with kerosene cans will immolate themselves.“
Denying that any defamation had been caused to Perumal by the initial police version that he had committed suicide, the counter said, “The doctor who conducted the postmortem has noted the cause of death as hanging, and hence there is no defamation. This unfortunate situation should not be given a different colour, since the government departments coordinated and tried their maximum to rescue them. But one of them could not be saved due to his personal decision and threat by agitators.“
