Workers go on rampage in Erode after colleague’s death


Chennai: A north Indian worker was crushed to death by a lorry inside
an oil factory following which his colleagues went on the rampage and indulged in violence, resulting in injuries to seven policemen at Modakurichi Taluk in Erode district.

Sources said the deceased was identified as Kamotharan a native of Bihar,
who was crushed to death after he came under rear wheels of a lorry inside the factory.

Following this, 400 of his fellow contract workers went on the rampage demanding a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to his family from the company management.

The also damaged the security room at the factory premises, even as the company management held talks with them that stretched well past midnight, when a seven-member police team tried to shift the body to the government hospital for autopsy.

The workers objected to shifting the body till compensation was announced. Even as the police team were holding talks, a section of workers attacked the police team with wooden logs and pelted stones at them in which all the seven police personnel, including Modakurichi Police Station Inspector Deepa, sustained injuries.

Four police vehicles were also damaged in the violence.

The agitators fled the scene as more police force came to the factory to bring the situation under control.

Police have detained about 50 workers for inquiry, even as a large posse of police personnel were deployed on security duty to prevent any untoward incident.