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Tamil Nadu
Small gangs spread around the Marina and Elliot’s beaches and target those who come there to perform the last rites of their near and dear ones, writes Petlee Peter This is an example of cashing in on one’s sentiments and situation. Small gangs spread around the Marina and Elliot’s beaches and target those who come there to perform the last rites of their near and dear ones. People walking to the waters with poignant faces and the urn of ashes usually fall prey to men who tactically say “Inga karacha, allu athma santhi adayathu,” (if the ashes are immersed near the shore, the dead person’s soul won’t attain salvation). Therefore they request the party to hand over the urn to them so that they can immerse the ashes further into the sea for a fee, which the bereaved assume to be nominal. If the urn is handed over, the men immerse the ashes and return to demand an exorbitant sum and often threaten people who refuse to comply. Gurpreet Kaur and her family members, living in Gangai Nagar, Velachery, were victimised by one of these gangs. “A few months ago, my family along with 20 other relatives had gone to the Marina beach to perform the last rites of my uncle. We reached the waters around 7.30 in the morning and some five to six men appeared from nowhere and pursued us to hand over the ashes telling that it isn’t good to drop it close to the shore,” recalled Ms Kaur. “Initially they demanded Rs.2,000 and finally agreed for Rs.800. But after the immersion they were dissatisfied with the agreed amount. There was a heated argument and even though we left the beach after giving away a few more hundreds, the men hounded us till our cars,” she said. Some like B K Saravanan, a resident of A Block, Anna Nagar, who had gone to the Marina along with his friend to immerse the ashes of latter’s father was even offered a catamaran to go into the sea to perform the rites for a price. “I guess we were smart enough to decline what the men offered, otherwise we would have also been victimised like many who come there for the ritual”, he said. Similar groups cashing in on the last rites linger at Elliot’s beach as well. Ammu, an ice-cream seller on the beach, revealed that there are men spreading along the stretch awaiting their targets walking in with an urn in hand. “They are locals and they get away with all misdoings and the visitors usually comply as they don’t want to invite trouble,” she said. When contacted, Commissioner of Police R Sekar said that no such incident has been brought to the notice of the police. “We have our surveillance mechanisms which include police personnel in plainclothes deployed on the beaches here. But this problem is new to us,” he added.
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