The quiet hamlet of Arumugamangalam near the banks of the Tamirabharani in southern Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district has just about 300 families. Since Sunday last (July 27), however, the residents have lost sleep, with senior Ministers, politicians, top police officers, and leaders of caste outfits visiting this otherwise nondescript village. The visits followed a cold blooded murder that stemmed from a love affair, involving a boy from the Scheduled Castes and a girl of an intermediate caste. For some, it was a crime that deserved punishment.

Chandrasekar, father of the victim, C. Kavin Selvaganesh, lives at Arumugamangalam, 25 km from the district headquarters of Thoothukudi, to take care of his farmland. His family of three — wife Tamilselvi, a teacher at Ananthamadan Pacheri near Thoothukudi, and sons Kavin and Praveen — had moved to Thoothukudi. After completing his SSLC at a school in Chidambara Nagar in Thoothukudi, Kavin moved to a higher secondary school on Meelavittaan Road on the outskirts of the town. It was here he met his classmate Subhashini, daughter of two Sub-Inspectors of police.