Man falls to death from atop Viramalimalai temple gopuram after ending his protest

A 40-year-old man, who created a flutter by staging a protest atop the gopuram of the Arulmigu Sri Subramanyaswamy temple at Viralimalai on Friday demanding that encroachments of temple lands be cleared, fell and died while climbing down after holding talks with officials.

The police gave the name of the deceased as Arumugam of Kodumbalur village in Pudukottai district.  Arumugam reportedly climbed atop the gopuram to press for his demand in the morning and tied a national flag.

The news created a flutter in the town prompting the local police personnel, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department and revenue officials to rush to the spot. A team of Fire and Rescue Services personnel reached the temple to rescue Arumugam.

The sources said Arumugam apparently did not want the firefighters to come up to rescue him and continued to stay put there.  The officials tried to pacify Arumugam and negotiated with him to submit his demand through a petition to the taluk office. After several hours, Arumugam finally agreed to end his protest and decided to climb down.

As he began climbing down, Arumugam stumbled and fell down. He was immediately rushed to the Government Hospital at Viralimalai where he was declared dead. The body was taken to the Government Hospital at Manapparai in Tiruchi district for autopsy. The Viralimalai police are probing the case.