A day after the gruesome murder of four members of a family for objecting to some men drinking liquor on their property, a massive protest demanding the assailants’ arrest broke out at Palladam town in Tiruppur district on Monday. The victims were hacked to death in Kallakinaru village.
The police said one of the assailants had been arrested while two others were on the run. The protesters led by the BJP and its fraternal outfits (as one of the victims was allegedly a BJP member) raised slogans describing the Tamil Nadu government as inefficient in maintaining law and order and demanded that all the Tasmac liquor outlets be closed to curb alcoholism, which they blamed for the occurrence of such grave crimes.
On Saturday, when Mohanraj, 47, had objected to some men drinking liquor on a plot belonging to him, it led to a quarrel. The inebriated men then hacked to death Mohanraj, his mother Pushpavathi, 68, aunt Siddhi Rathinambal, 59, and cousin Senthilkumar, 46.
Seeking the arrest of the accused, a large group blocked the road at Palladam for nearly two hours on Monday. The protesters dispersed initially but reassembled in the evening, once again calling for the arrest of remaining two assailants. The protesters had reportedly told the police that their agitation would continue tomorrow. The kin of the victims had returned home without taking possession of the bodies.
The police said one assailant, Chellamuthu, 22, of Manapparai, Tiruchi, was arrested. The main accused Venkatesh, 27, of Tirunelveli, who had worked as a driver for Senthilkumar a few years ago, and another accomplice Muthaiah, a resident of Uthamapalayam, Theni, were on the run.
West Zone Inspector General of Police Bhavaneshwari, other top officers from the western region, and hundreds of police personnel from Coimbatore, Erode, and Namakkal districts besides Tiruppur were seen trying their best to prevent the situation from going out of hand in front of the government hospital, where the protesters had assembled. According to police sources, Venkatesh had criminal cases against him in Tirunelveli district.
Earlier in the day, Information Minister M.P. Saminathan and Tiruppur Collector T. Christuraj visited the house of the murder victims and the government hospital to console their family members. MLAs of Palladam and Udumalpet M.S.M. Anandan and K. Radhakrishnan, respectively, also extended their condolences.
State president of the Hindu Munnani Kadeswara Subramaniam alleged that the law and order situation had deteriorated. He sought adequate compensation and assurance of a government job for the dependants of the victims.
