A four-member armed gang murdered an eatery owner at Panankulam near Moontradaippu on Tirunelveli-Nagercoil National Highway on Sunday night.
Since the assailants are suspected to be from a different community, relatives of the deceased staged a road roko on the busy NH at Panankulam, demanding the arrest of the accused and compensation to the victim’s family.
When an unruly mob pelted stones at buses and damaged one of the vehicles, police had to chase them away. With tension prevailing in the village, police pickets have been placed there to prevent any untoward incidents.
The police said Kombaiah (55) of Panankulam was murdered by the gang when he was in his eatery around 10.15 p.m. Even before his son K. Poolpandi (23), who was watching television in the adjacent room, and worker Murugan could react, the assailants escaped on motorbikes.
Kombaiah was rushed to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital (TVMCH), but he died on the way.
Kombaiah used to stay in the hotel though he had a house at Panankulam. When Kombaiah’s wife Rani, former ward member of Poolam village panchayat, contested the election for Karanthaneri village panchayat, he developed enmity with a few persons from the same area.
Moreover, Kombaiah was arrested for the murder of a person from nearby Muthalaikulam, but was acquitted later. Against this backdrop, two youths from Karanthaneri were murdered by a few persons from Panankulam and Nanguneri areas.
Hence, the police suspect that Kombaiah might have been murdered due to one of these motives.
Even as Superintendent of Police K.S. Narenthiran Nayar was persuading them to withdraw the agitation, a few miscreants pelted stones and damaged the windscreen of a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus proceeding from Tirunelveli to Thisaiyanvilai.
As the mob also pelted stones at the police, injuring two constables, the police chased it away from the road to restore traffic. About 25 bikes left by miscreants were seized by the police.
“We’ve identified the assailants and are hopeful of nabbing a couple of them soon,” Mr. Narenthiran Nayar said.
After post-mortem was conducted at the TVMCH, the body of Kombaiah was handed over to his relatives on Monday.
