CHENNAI: After toiling for 15 years, R Padma, the human sacrifice victim, was all set to return to her native Errapatty village in Dharmapuri district and start afresh in the next two or three months as her son had landed in a government job.
Like scores of villagers from Errapatty, Padma and her husband had left for Ernakulam in Kerala 15 years back in search of better wages. For 15 years, the couple did a range of menial jobs there, as the pay was better than what they would get back home.
It was a couple of months back that her elder son got a job as a lecturer in a government polytechnic. Even when her husband chose to stay in Erappatty due to illness when they visited their native in August, Padma chose to go back to earn some more money and come back in two or three months. Now, her murder has sparked a return of other villagers from Errapatty who were working in various parts of Ernakulam.
Seven families have returned to Errapatty from Ernakulam over fear. One of the villagers Santha, 47, said that she was working as a mason in Elamkulam with her husband Govindaraj, 55. "After Padma's murder, we have decided to come back to Errapatty," she said. Similarly, Rajeshwari, 35, who was selling vegetables in Elamkulam with her husband Angappan, 40, has returned. "Even if we get lesser income, we have decided to stay in our village,'' says A Menaka, 35, who has also come back from Kerala.
When contacted by TOI for these villagers' rehabilitation, Dharmapuri collector K Shanthi said that the authorities would render help after assessing their requirements.
Meanwhile, Padma's son R Seddu has urged chief minister M K Stalin to help bring his mother's body back to Errapatty. In a petition, Seddu stated that his mother's mutilated body had been kept for more than three days at the mortuary in the government hospital in Kottayam.
Padma is Ranga's second wife. The couple has two sons. Speaking to TOI, Ranga said, "Padma was always concerned about my health more than hers. Even when she spoke to me for the last time, on September 25, the day before she went missing, my wife was advising me to stay safe.'' "I am totally clueless on how to spend the rest of my life without her,'' Rangan said.
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