Police have recovered the severed head of Mariappan, a washerman of Pattapaththu near Tirunelveli Town, who was murdered by an armed gang on Wednesday night, and arrested three persons in connection with the gruesome murder.
Due to prior enmity, Mariappan was murdered by an armed gang which also severed his head and dumped it in an inaccessible area. After recovering the body, the police were searching for the severed head in an irrigation channel and a well by pumping out the water, but in vain.
The police traced Petchivel, the prime suspect in the murder, through his mobile phone signal, to Tiruchendur, where a special police team nabbed him on Thursday night.
Base on the information provided by him, the police recovered the severed head of Mariappan from a hillock near Kunnaththur around 11.30 p.m.
During interrogation, Petchivel reportedly told the police that the frequent quarrels and scuffles between him and the supporters of Mariappan led to registration of cases.
When one of the cases, filed against Petchivel and Mariappan, came up for hearing in a court in Palayamkottai on Wednesday, Petchivel and his supporters warned Mariappan not to tender witness in the case against him.
However, Mariappan was firm in his decision to depose against Petchivel and his supporters.
Agitated over this, Petchivel and his friends Sundararaj, Siva and Ramaiya murdered Mariappan, chopped off his head and left it in Kunnaththur hillock, situated about 5 km from the scene of crime.
The police, who arrested Petchivel, arrested Gowtham of Old Pettai and Srinivasan of Kodeeswaran Nagar who took him on a bike to Kunnaththur hillock and then to Tiruchendur.
The police are on the lookout for Sundararaj, Siva and Ramaiya.
