Chennai:
Three days after his wife said she would never go back to him, 20-year-old Ilavasaran, whose wedding had triggered riots in Tamil Nadu, was found dead on a train track in a part of the state not far from where the couple spent eight months living together.
Sources in the police claimed a suicide note had been found but did not elaborate.
A political party disagrees.
"We don't think it's a case of suicide, there could be more to it," said Thirumavalavar, MP and President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, which draws large support from Dalits and backward castes.
On Monday, Divya Nagaraj, 21, told the Madras High Court on Monday why her marriage to Ilavasaran was over. She said she had not been mistreated by her husband or his family, but was tortured by the knowledge that her father committed suicide in protest against her wedding to a Dalit.
Her mother had filed a case in court alleging that Divya was being illegally confined and should be produced in court and granted her freedom.
21-year-old Divya eloped to marry Ilavasaran in October last year. Three villages including the one where he lived erupted in riots; nearly 200 huts where Dalit families lived were set on fire, allegedly by the upper caste Vanniar community, to which Divya belonged.
At the time, the political party, the PMK, headed by S Ramadoss had campaigned to stop weddings between Dalits and non-Dalits.