16 arrested in Kerala tribal murder case

Sixteen people accused in the murder case of a tribal youth in Kerala's Attappadi village have been arrested and charged with sections of murder on Saturday.

They accused will be produced in court tomorrow.

The incident took place on February 22, when a tribal man died after being beaten by a group of people in Palakkad's Attappadi village. The deceased has been identified as Madhu.

Meanwhile, police has also recommended district administration to take action against forest officials who failed to stop the people from entering the forest area.

Earlier in the day, Congress President Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter and condemned the cruel lynching of the tribal youth.

"I am deeply disturbed by the savage and cruel lynching of a tribal in Kerala yesterday, captured on camera. We must guard against growing intolerance in our society & speak out in one voice to condemn these acts of mindless violence," Gandhi tweeted.

Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Kerala's Trivandrum city staged a protest over the death of tribal youth with a symbolic body.

A video has gone viral on social media of the incident showing a man tied with a lungi. While some people were questioning Madhu, others took the opportunity to click selfies.

Later, local police reached the spot. While the police were taking Madhu to the Government Tribal Specialty Hospital at Kottathara, he vomited and collapsed.

The doctors at the hospital declared him brought dead. They also confirmed that he had been beaten. However, the police are yet to ascertain whether he died due to the beating.

"We can confirm the cause of death only after getting the postmortem report," said DSP TK Subramanian.

Madhu used to wander around and lived in the forest and caves. Several reports stated that Madhu was mentally ill, but the police couldn't confirm this.

Inquest procedures are over and Madhu's body will be soon sent for postmortem.