A young man identified as Pooranachandran died by self-immolation on Thursday (18 December 2025) in Madurai, with his friend stating that the act was linked to the ongoing dispute over the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam at Thirupparankundram.
According to the account given by the deceased’s friend, Pooranachandran sent a voice message at around 3.26 PM shortly before his death. The friend said that after listening to the message, he immediately tried to contact him, but the call was answered by people at a police station, who asked him to come there without initially explaining what had happened.
The friend said that upon reaching the police station and making enquiries, he was informed about the manner of Pooranachandran’s death. He was later taken to the mortuary, where the body was shown to him.
He stated that police officials explained that Pooranachandran had set himself on fire in protest against the authorities’ refusal to allow the lighting of the Thirupparankundram deepam, despite orders of the Madras High Court. According to the friend, Pooranachandran allegedly carried out the act near a Periyar statue, stating that since it was claimed that “there is no deity here,” he would “light himself as the lamp.”
The friend said the audio message was sent at 3.26 PM to four or five people and that the incident occurred shortly thereafter, around 3.30 pm. He added that everyone who was present at the location had since given their statements to the police.
When asked about the sequence of events, the friend said police told him that Pooranachandran had gone inside a room, shut the door from within, poured petrol on himself and then set himself on fire.
He also said that Pooranachandran had never previously spoken to him about taking such a step. “Till now, he had never spoken about anything like this. He hadn’t told me any such information,” he said.
Clarifying his relationship with the deceased, the friend said Pooranachandran was a close friend and not a relative. He also said Pooranachandran was not associated with any political party or organisation.
“He was not in any party at all,” he said, adding that Pooranachandran was a deeply spiritual person and a devotee of Lord Shiva. He said that Pooranachandran regularly visited the Sadhuragiri Mahalingam temple on every Amavasya and was devoted to religious practices.
The friend further recalled that even on the day of the incident, while travelling with him by car, Pooranachandran had been continuously singing the ‘Kanda Sashti Kavasam’. “At that time, we did not understand anything unusual. Only after this incident did the meaning of what he sang become clear to us,” he said.
The police are continuing their investigation into the full circumstances surrounding the death.
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