Activist Piyush Manush was arrested by the city police here on Wednesday on the charges of threatening his house owner and hurting her.
The activist is a tenant since 2015 at a house owned by couple N.N. Singh and Asha Kumari (53) of Kondappanaickenpatti. After the death of Mr. Singh, Asha Kumari moved to Bengaluru and is living with her son.
Since the agreement between the owner and the tenant lapsed in 2019, Asha Kumari asked the activist to vacate the house to which he refused.
She said that she along with her daughter went to the house on February 23 and asked him to vacate. She claimed that the activist had pushed her down.
On February 24, she submitted a petition to the district administration during the weekly grievances redress meeting that the activist had not paid rent for the past one year and was refusing to vacate the house. Also, she submitted a petition to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday at his residence during his visit to Salem. The petition was forwarded to the Kannankurichi police station.
On Wednesday, Assistant Commissioner of Police Eswaran and Kannankurichi Police Inspector Thangavel held inquiries with Piyush Manush and Asha Kumari at the police station. Later, the police registered a case under Sections 294 (b) (uttering obscene words in public place), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, and arrested the activist. He was produced at the magistrate’s house who sent Piyush Manush to judicial custody till March 11. Later, the activist was lodged at Salem Central Prison.
