Madurai: Man self-immolates in police booth over Karthigai Deepam dispute
In Madurai, a 40-year-old man named Poornachandran died by self-immolation inside a police booth on Thursday afternoon.
He was an MBA grad working as a pharma sales rep, and parked his van near the Periyar statue before taking this step.
The incident is linked to an ongoing dispute about lighting the Karthigai Deepam festival lamp on a contested temple pillar.
What investigators found so far
Firefighters responded quickly and his body was sent for postmortem. Police are treating it as suicide, not homicide.
At the scene, they found Poornachandran's phone with an audio message criticizing the DMK government for not following a court order on the temple lamp issue; he also explained he chose this location to avoid disrespecting temples.
Investigators are checking if it's really his voice and looking into his past ties with Hindu Munnani and BJP, while prohibitory orders remain in place around the disputed site.