Forest department collects evidence with Vedan; decision to send tiger-tooth for scientific examination

KOCHI: The forest department has decided to send the tiger tooth seized from rapper Vedan alias Hirandas Murali for scientific examination. His Instagram chats will also be examined. The forest department conducted evidence collection with him in Thrissur this morning.

The evidence collection is being carried out by taking the tiger tooth to a jeweler in Thrissur who attached it to his chain. However, the forest department was unable to contact Ranjith Kummbidi, who gifted the tiger tooth to Vedan. His statement is that he does not know if it is a real tiger tooth. However, the forest department has not taken this into confidence. His close friends will also be questioned in the case.

Meantime, there is continued criticism on social media for implicating him in other cases. The criticism is that the six-gram ganja case, which can be granted station bail, has led to a non-bailable tiger hunting case, which can be sentenced to seven years in prison, due to the color, caste, politics of ideology, and dissatisfaction of prominent artists.

There has been criticism that the officials are overly interested in implicating him in a hunting case over a tiger tooth given as a gift by a fan, and that this approach was not taken when prominent people were accused in similar cases.

Hirandas Murali known as Vedan, is the son of a Sri Lankan refugee. He was born and raised in a Dalit colony in the center of Thrissur city. The raps that Vedan performed, written and composed by himself, are a wave among the youth. The songs that directly and indirectly describe the caste discrimination and Left politics he faced since childhood have penetrated the minds of the community like a whip. Youths flock to his live programmes like an ocean. Amidst these controversies, Vedan's new album is releasing soon.