SALEM,
September
17, 2012 | The Hindu
A
28-year old auto-rickshaw driver set himself on fire in protest against the
visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh to
lay the foundation for an international Buddhist university. He has been
admitted to the Salem Government Medical College Hospital with serious burns.
Hospital
sources told The Hindu that T. P. Vijayaraj had received nearly 80 per
cent burns all over his body since he had drenched himself from shoulders to
feet in petrol before setting himself ablaze near the busy Old Bus Stand on
Monday morning, catching everyone including solitary police constable on
routine duty and scores of vegetable vendors and general public, off-guard.
The
youth from Nethimedu, who possessed a CITU membership card, also raised slogans
against the Sri Lankan President and a few Indian political parties before the
people could put out the fire. They called 108 emergency ambulance services and
rushed him to the hospital. Salem Judicial Magistrate No.1 Rafiq recorded his
statement from the hospital bed.
His
father Thangavelu, also an auto-rickshaw driver, said his son appeared
disturbed since Saturday. A school drop-out, he preferred to stay alone and
rarely ventured out of the house. “Despite our repeated prodding, he preferred
not to talk to us. He wrote a 38-page “last letter” to all saying that he was
pained to hear about the killing of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka and
Rajapaksa’s visit to India. The letter has been seized by police,” he added.
Periyar
Dravidar Kazhagam president Kolathur T.S. Mani, Pattali Makkal Katchi leader
and youth wing secretary Anbumani Ramadoss, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam
urban secretary Radhakrishnan and a host of others visited him at the hospital.
Traffic remained disrupted for 30 minutes when the cadre of the Salem unit of
VCK resorted to road blockade near Collectorate demanding that police register
cases based on his statement from hospital bed. Students of a private law
college staged a dharna on the hospital premises and raised slogans against the
Sri Lankan President.
The
Town Police have registered a case.
