Irate residents staged a protest on Thursday demanding stringent punishment for those involved in the recent killing of a priest in Venkatapuram in Paalur police station limit.
The demonstrators, who gathered under the banner of All Community Protection Forum, condemned the attack resulting in the death of Raman (63) of Tirupathi.
The temple priest was on an evening walk along with his daughter Padmashree and grand-daughter, Akshyashree on March 31 when the incident occurred near the house of his elder daughter Jayashree in Venkatapuram Agraharam. Four inebriated men, who were in the vicinity, teased Askshyashree. When Padmashree intervened, the men assaulted her.
When Raman came to her rescue, the men abused him and one of them attacked him with a steel pipe. Padmashree, who attempted to save her father, was also assaulted and her child too sustained mild blows in the melee. The men left the scene and the women rushed Raman to a hospital in Chengalpattu, where he died on Monday night.
The Paalur police, who initially registered an attempt to murder case against Muniraj of Venkatapuram Colony and three others, changed it to a murder case after the death.
K.V. Ranganathan, son-in-law of the deceased, demanded that the men should be caught and brought to justice. Three suspects, Thikku Ezhumalai (25), Muniraj (30) and Suriyan (25) of Venkatapuram Colony, surrendered following the death of Raman. The police reportedly apprehended the fourth suspect Vallu Ezhumalai (25) on Thursday night.
