toTinnevely, June 24: - News has just reached of a cold-blooded murder committed at Tenkasi on the morning of the 15th instant. It has assumed a most sensational character by the position and status of the victim. The victim was Subbiah Mudaliar, a young and influential yarn merchant aged only 21. The circumstances that led to this murder are alleged to be as follows: - It is said that there was long standing enmity between Sankara Mudaliar, the father of the murdered youth, and P.K. Kuthalalinga Mudaliyar, a rich and leading yarn merchant of the place, whose two sons Messrs. T.P.K. Arumuga Mudaliar, an Honourary Magistrate, a trustee of the famous temple at Sankarankoil and an ex-Union Chairman of the place; and T.P.K. Subbiah Mudaliar, his younger brother, figure as the chief suspects in the case. Both the deceased and the others belong to the same community of weavers and are closely related. The immediate cause of their enmity turned blood-thirsty suddenly, is said to be the taking of Kavadi by the deceased youth to Tiruchendur a few days before his death. On this occasion two of his uncles Narayana Mudaliar and Shenbaga Mudaliar, husbands of his father’s two sisters, were present. And of these two, Narayana Mudaliar is the nephew of P. Kuthalalinga Mudaliar, the father of the suspected brothers. At this celebration, it is alleged that highly differential treatment was given to Narayana Mudaliar, who is said to have been insulted in presence of several of their kinsmen by Shunmuga Mudaliar. It would appear that this Narayana Mudaliar took this insult to heart and returned to Tenkasi immediately and reported the alleged insult to old uncle Kuthalalinga Mudaliar, yarn merchant. The old man seems to have asked how much insult was brooked by him. Narayana Mudaliar is said to have once run up with a stick and beaten Shunmuga Mudaliar. Now the deceased youth who was a partner with Shunmuga Mudaliar in his flourishing yarn trade, took the latter to the Doctor, got certificate from him and went to the local Sub-Magistrate’s Court at 2 P.M., to file a complaint. As it was late they could not file the complaint that day. While they were in the Sub-Magistrate’s Court, T.P.K. Arumuga Mudaliar appears to have come to the place to bring about an amicable settlement. On the evening of that day, at Kuthalalinga Mudaliar’s house, his two sons, Narayana Mudaliar and a few others seem to have assembled and threatened violently that they would do away with the deceased or his father. All these are alleged to have happened on the 14th instant. On the morning of the 15th, Subbiah Mudaliar, the flourishing trader, disappeared. It is alleged that he came out of his house at 4 A.M. to pass urine; and at this time he was carried away by 6 people and strangled to death. The dead body was found floating on the river close by.
