Sandalwood seized; two held

Two men were lucky to escape uncaught when they cut a mid sized sandalwood tree at Narayanapuram village in Salaiyur near Annur, in the early hours of Tuesday. But, in a couple of hours they were caught while carelessly transporting a portion of that tree’s bark on their motorbike.

D. Yuvraj (25), of Kalliyan Puthur at Vijayamangalan in Erode, and his accomplice R. Kumar (29) of Madukkarai in Coimbatore were arrested by a highway patrolling team near Chettipalayam on the Palakkad Bypass Road.

They tried to run away from the police but were caught at Kalakaduputhur. The sandalwood weighed about 10 kg.

Found dead

K. Raju (45), a construction worker from Chitharayapuram in Sivakasi, was found dead with his head smashed, at a vacant house site in MGR Nagar at Theethipalayam village, near Perur, on Tuesday. According to the police, the man had come to Coimbatore for work three weeks ago.

It is learnt that his wife Subbulakshmi and two sons are in Sivakasi.

He worked for Rajkumar, a contractor. He did not have work on Monday and was seen by a few fellow labourers on that day.

According to the police, Rajkumar made repeated attempts to reach Raju over phone, but in vain.

On Monday farm labourers working near MGR Nagar noticed the man motionless and assumed that he could have been in an inebriated condition.

Later, they informed the police. Forensic experts and the dog squad were pressed for service.

The police said that a case was registered under section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Youth held

The police have arrested M. Vijay (22) from Thenkasi for allegedly murdering P. Manickem (67), a former government teacher, at his house at Kennedy Street in Naickenpalayam. The police said that he was murdered on Saturday afternoon but the incident came to light only on Monday as neighbours noticed unpleasant smell emanating from Manickem’s house.

Police sources said that Manickem lost wife 20 years ago and was having affairs with a few women.

One of the women told the police that he was trying to take advantage of a 24-year-old married woman working in a private company near Mettupalayam who had borrowed some money from him.

The police said that Vijay came to know about his wife being harassed by Manickem and hacked him to death.