Villagers attempt to cremate body on road

ARIYALUR: Tension prevailed at Nathiyankudikadu village in Senthurai taluk on Saturday when a group of villagers were prevented from cremating a body at a recently demarcated burial ground. The group staged protest and attempted to cremate the body on the main road when a person of the same village claimed ownership to the burial ground saying he has ‘patta’ for the land. The “owner” prevented them from disposing of the body there. The burial ground was allotted to the villagers sometime ago by the Collector following a request.The villagers in a petition to the Collector had stated that the original burial ground was too far.  The collector ordered Senthurai Tahsildar Anbazhagan to look into the matter and erect sheds at the land the villagers wanted.A villager, Periyasamy, died on Friday and relatives wanted to cremate the body in the newly-allocated land. At this juncture, the villager, who had built a hut in the property, claimed ownership to the land. As the dispute snowballed, the villagers placed the body on the main road and tried to cremate it. On information, Tahsildar Anbazhagan and  Ariyalur DSP Chandrasekaran rushed to the spot and tried to pacify the villagers. The revenue and police officials wanted to check the veracity of the patta claim and asked the claimant to produce the document. To their surprise, they found there was no allotment in his favour. On the assurance given by the tahsildar and DSP that action would be taken to authorise the disputed land for the cremation of bodies in future, the dharna was withdrawn..