Family of Tamil Nadu cop who bled to death livid

Tamil Nadu (TN) announced a compensation of Rs7 lakh to the family of police sub-inspector (PSI) R Vetrivel, who was hacked to death at Alwarkurichi, Tirunelveli, on Thursday, but his kin are livid that nobody, not even the two state ministers who were passing by, came to his rescue.

“If they can’t save a policeman, how will they protect the common man? It is unfortunate that the two ministers  failed to take immediate action even as he bled to death on Alwarkurichi bridge,” Vetrivel’s brother Paramaguru said.

His elder sister Karupayi said, “He was lying in a pool of blood and crying for help. We are deeply hurt at the apathy of the ministers and others.”

“He was popular in our family as he was one of the first to volunteer for the special task force formed to nab forest brigand Veerappan,” Vetrivel’s younger brother Paramaguru said.

Former DGP Walter Devaram, who headed the Karnataka-TN joint task force, called the incident a human failure. “The convoy [of ministers] reached the spot within minutes of the incident. But nobody went near him. They behaved as if they were scared of staining their clothes. There were two ministers, a secretary, a collector, police escorts, photographers and videographers, but not a soul helped him,” he said.

Meanwhile, police claimed  a breakthrough in the case. They maintained that the gang that hacked Vetrivel mistook him for Kadayam PSI Sivasubramaniam as he was wearing a helmet. Sivasubramaniam’s estranged wife Sivagami has been accused of hiring henchmen to kill him. Police said they had arrested two people, but Sivagami was absconding.