Duo booked for cheating and abusing dalit man surrender before Coimbatore court, lodged in jail

COIMBATORE: Two men, who were booked for cheating and abusing a dalit man, surrendered before a special court for the trial of SC/ST cases in Coimbatore on Friday, as directed by the Madras high court. The duo, identified as SMP Sekar of Suleeswaranpatti near Pollachi and Saravanakumar of MGR Nagar in Pollachi, were remanded in judicial custody and lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison.

K Rajendran, 35, of Jothi Nagar in Pollachi, who is a meter reading assessor with Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited, bought 3.5 cents of land from Sekar on Dec 10, 2012. Saravanakumar, who is a real estate broker, facilitated the purchase. However, Sekar with the help of Saravanakumar sold the same property to another person on March 22, 2013.

“I was planning to construct a house on the plot. I checked the encumbrance certificate on March 4, 2023 and discovered that Sekar had sold the same plot to another person and cheated me. When I questioned Sekar and Saravanakumar, they used caste slurs against me. So, I approached the SC/ST commission, which directed the Pollachi Taluk police to register an FIR against the two men,” said Rajendran.

However, the police did not obey the commission order. Rajendran approached the Madras high court. On Oct 23, 2024, the high court directed the police to register an FIR against the duo. But the police delayed the process. At last, they registered an FIR against Sekar and Saravanakumar on Feb 22, 2025, under sections 120B, 420, and 467 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3(1)(r)(s) and 3(2)(5)(A) of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The duo filed a petition before the Madras high court a few days ago to quash the FIR, and the court directed them to surrender before the special court for the trial of SC/ST cases in Coimbatore on April 4.