Even as police have secured the four who executed the assault on a couple at the Udumalpet Bus Stand, the funeral of V. Shankar, the Dalit youth who was killed in the attack has left a huge scar on his family members and relatives.

The family members were not even allowed to peacefully cremate the deceased. According to sources, police personnel had taken the body directly to the Komaralingam burial ground without allowing the family to take it to Shankar’s house.

Despite the preparations for cremation having been kept in readiness the village youth did not allow it since they wanted the last rites to be performed at his house.

They insisted that the body should be buried and not cremated. There was also a demand that the mortal remains should be kept for a day as it was already night and that it was against tradition to bury after night fall.

This irked police officials as they feared that keeping the body for another day would increase the law and order problem in the Komaralingam area in Udumalpet.

Though the police acceded to the wish of the family to take the body of Shankar to his house, they were not allowed to do so as more than 300 people blocked the Udumalpet – Palani Main Road demanding immediate arrest of the accused.

Higher officials, including Inspector General of West Zone C. Sridhar and Tirupur Superintendent of Police Saroj Kumar Thakur tried pacifying the crowd. All attempts turned futile as the road roko continued for hours which led to a lathi charge.

Around 12 a.m. police officials along with family members of Shankar buried the mortal remains in the Komaralingam burial ground.

Meanwhile, Dindigul police team has arrested Manikandan (25), Jegadeesan (31), Michael, Selvakumar (25), and Manikandan (39) in connection with the case and handed them over to Udumalpet police. Earlier, Chinnasamy, the father of Kousalya, had surrendered to the Dindigul police.