T-shirt with ‘Jai Bhim’ slogan helped identify Nandhish and his wife Swati, whose faces were disfigured

Nandhish was perhaps unaware that his last act of defiance would be his attire in death. On November 10, he slipped into a sky blue T-shirt bearing the image of B.R. Ambedkar, with the words ‘Jai Bhim’, and the name of his village – Choodaganapalli, in Bagalur near Hosur. The same night, he and his wife were kidnapped from Hosur.

Three days later, the bodies of 25-year-old Nandhish of the Dalit Adi Dravidar caste and his 22-year-old newlywed wife Swati of the dominant Vanniyar caste were fished out of Cauvery near Shivasamudra in Mandya district. Their mutilated bodies bore the markings of severe violence meted out to the couple. The killers had burnt the faces of the young couple to disfigure their identities, while their limbs were tied.

But, Nandhish’s T-shirt helped the police identify the couple.

When the Mandya police saw Choodaganapalli (known as Soodakondapalli) below the Ambedkar image on the blood-stained T-shirt, they contacted Hosur police, where a ‘missing person’ complaint was registered only a day before by his brother Shankar.

Nandhish and Swati hailed from Soodakondapalli. But a year ago, Nandhish moved out of the village at the behest of his family, after the village got wind of the couple’s relationship.

On November 10, Nandish, and his wife of three months Swati, went out to catch the road show of the actor-turned politician Kamal Hassan in Hosur. Swati’s relatives sighted them and alerted others. The couple were bundled into a vehicle and driven to Mandya. Swati had eloped from her house in August and married Nandish. The couple registered their marriage and lived in Hosur.

A taboo in the region

The imagery of Ambedkar bears significance, when located in the space of Soodagondapalli. Here, the writ of the dominant Vanniyar caste prevailed.

Also Read Hosur couple murder: Plot was hatched three months ago

With over 30 Vanniyar households, and few other intermediate castes, the Dalit Adi Dravidars were a minuscule minority with about 13 households.

There is a de facto ban on Ambedkar banners, songs and the youth are not allowed to celebrate the Ambedkar Jayanti, says Aadhavan Deetchanya, part of a team that reached the village on Saturday. “The Adi Dravidar families are even told who to vote. Instances of social boycott, non-distribution of rations in the PDS shops are a routine here,” says Mr.Deetchanya.

Nandhish’s elder sister Akhila hadn’t spoken to her brother ever since the couple married in stealth. “His phone was switched off since they left the village,” she says.

Nandhish and Swati were in love with each other for 4 years. “But, we knew of it only after 2 years. I told him to go away to Hosur.” Around the same time, Swati’s male relatives, including her father, had stormed into their house and beat up Akhila and parents. “They saw my brother at a temple festival and we knew trouble was brewing. So we sent him away. They came home, beat me and my parents.” The family never thought of lodging a police complaint. “We can’t live here opposing them,” she said.

The fear was evident on Saturday. Except for Nandish’s family, none of the other Adi Dravidar households turned up at the RDO’s office for a meeting in the presence of fact-finding team of activists that arrived on Saturday.

There was rumour that Swati was pregnant.

The team of activists that attended the meeting included P.Suganthi, State general secretary AIDWA; Kausalya Shankar, activist; Aadhavan Deetchanya, State general secretary, Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association; Samuvel Raj,general secretary, Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front; film director Pa.Ranjith and K.Armstrong, State secretary, BSP.

PMK condemns murders

PMK founder S. Ramadoss on Saturday condemned the murders of inter-caste couple as “unacceptable in a civilised world.”

CPI State Secretary K. Balakrishnan, who visited the couple’s home, said a separate law was needed to deal with “caste-killings”