Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan passes the order after the wife of the deceased approaches the court seeking a re-postmortem and CBI probe into his death

The Madras High Court on Monday (April 7, 2025) called for the postmortem report of an individual suspected of killing an elephant in the Pathanavadi reserve forest in Dharmapuri district in March this year, but who was found to have died under suspicious circumstances on April 4, 2025.

Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan directed Government Advocate (criminal side) A. Gopinath to produce the postmortem report on Tuesday (April 7, 2025), so that the court can determine the cause of death, as cited by forensic experts, before deciding on a plea for conducting a re-postmortem.
The judge also directed the Dharmapuri district police to preserve the body of the deceased, Senthil, at the local mortuary until the court could issue further orders on the matter. He instructed the government advocate to ensure that the body was not disposed of without the court’s approval.

The interim directions were issued on a writ petition filed by S. Chithra, 23, wife of Senthil, seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death, as she suspected that forest officials had killed him.

The petitioner’s counsel K. Balu told the court that the Pennagaram Forest Range Officer had found the carcass of a dead elephant on March 1, 2025, and began an investigation into the death after registering a case under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 and Tamil Nadu Forest Act of 1882.

Claiming that the petitioner’s husband was a mason by profession, the counsel accused the forest officials of having picked him up, as well as his father and brother, for an inquiry on March 17, 2025, and assaulting them brutally, under illegal custody, in order to force them to confess to the crime.

In her affidavit, the petiioner said that her father-in-law was remanded to judicial custody on March 18, 2025, and that her brother-in-law was released from the custody of the forest officials on March 19, 2025. However, there was no whisper about the fate of her husband, she alleged.

The petitioner said that on April 2, 2025, the forest officials told her that Senthil had escaped from their custody on March 18, 2025, and that they had lodged a police complaint regarding it on March 19, 2025. On April 4, 2025, she was informed of her husband’s body having been found in Kongarapatti forest range in a decomposed state.

Pointing to photographs of the body, captured by the villagers, Mr. Balu said, the presence of a country made gun in the deceased’s hand appeared to be a planned exercise to create an impression that the petitioner’s husband had died by suicide.

Suspecting foul play behind the death of the petitioner’s husband, the counsel insisted that the investigation must be transferred to the CBI and that a team of forensic officials must be directed to conduct a re-postmortem of the body and record the entire proceedings on camera.