Months after a city-based lawyer Mathiyazhagan was murdered at Thillai Nagar area here, special teams of the city police have arrested a seven-member gang on the charge of committing the offence.
Among the arrested was the main accused Mani alias Kaliyappan who was Mathiyazhagan’s partner had a partnership in real estate business.
Mathiyazhagan, who was on a walk with his dog on the night of May 5, died on the spot after being hit with an iron rod. The murder was committed on a lane leading to Devar Colony from Salai Road.
Police formed seven special teams to nab the killers.
During investigation, the teams looked into various angles including dispute in real estate business and quizzed more than 200 people.
After filtering all the information including cyber inputs, the teams came to the conclusion that the motive behind the crime was dispute relating to real estate, the Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav said.
The lawyer had invested Rs. 10 lakh on the purchase of a piece of land measuring 3.87 acres at Linga Nagar in Woraiyur area for carrying out real estate business with the rest of the amount exceeding Rs. 2 crore having been invested by Mani.
Mani was earlier involved in transport business and had invested the money on the purchase of land along with Mathiyazhagan, Mr. Yadav told reporters here on Tuesday.
Altercation broke out between them after Mathiyazhagan wanted the land to be sold to persons known to him and is said to have prevented its sale. As a result, enmity broke out between Mani and the lawyer in the real estate business.
Mani, who was facing debt, decided to eliminate Mathiyazhagan and sell the land. Mani approached Sudhakar to execute the crime with an offer of making him a partner in the real estate business.
Mr. Yadav said Sudhakar hired a gang which allegedly murdered Mathiyazhagan while he was on a routine walk.
The gang, which had visited the spot earlier, came on two motorcycles and committed the murder, Mr. Yadav said and added that the vehicles and a cell phone used in the crime were seized.
Two more accused – “North D” Baskar and Elavarasan – also involved in the murder case were reported to be absconding and teams were continuing their efforts to nab them, he added.
