Overview
- The bodies of a 19-year-old man and a teenage girl were found in a thatched shed near Sathangudi in Mayiladuthurai district on Tuesday, and both were taken to the Government Medical College Hospital in Tiruvarur for post‑mortem.
- Police say the man had filed a complaint the night before accusing the girl’s father and four relatives of assault and caste slurs, and officers registered a case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
- The girl’s father Lakshmikanthan and four relatives have been arrested in connection with the SC/ST case and remanded to judicial custody while investigators pursue separate missing‑person and unnatural‑death inquiries.
- Families and local political groups have alleged an honour or caste killing and protested at the scene, and clashes and property damage were reported, prompting extra police pickets and a larger deployment to calm the village.
- Police note there were no visible external injuries, but officials say forensic results and autopsy findings will be central to deciding whether the deaths were suicide or homicide and to any further charges.