The village is communally sensitive as Dalit houses were attacked few months before by caste Hindus and during January, Madurai Rural police arrested 28 persons in connection with the attack on Dalits at Kuruvithurai near Sholavandan on Sunday.
Within no time, scores of caste Hindus, armed with logs and rods, rushed to the Dalit hamlet and started attacking them, while 16 Dalits, including women were injured and the perpetrators has attacked the tiled roof of over dozen houses and damaged vehicles.
A large number of police personnel were drawn from different districts, have been deployed at Kuruvithurai and an eerie silence has prevailed in the village where many of the shops on the main road remained closed.
The Additional Superintendent of Police Karthikeyan is camping there and most of the male members of the caste Hindu community absconding and the police have put up four check-posts from Mannadimangalam till Kuruvithurai where bus services were suspended to the village.
