Police have arrested 14 persons in connection with the two murders in which a farmhand and a farmer were beheaded since Monday night.
In the first incident, K. Sankarasubramanian, 37, a farmhand from Keezha Seval Nainarkulam, was beheaded by an armed gang near Vaduvoorpatti liquor shop on Monday night. The assailants took the sliced head of Sankarasubramanian and placed it on the grave of Manthiram of South Gopalasamudram, who was murdered in November 2013. Since the killers suspected that Sankarasubramanian was close to the murderers of Manthiram, his head was offered at his grave.
The Munneerpallam police have arrested Manthiram’s son Maharaja alias Raja, 20, his associates K. Pandi alias ‘Chiyaan’ Pandi, 31, G. Prabhakaran, 26, R. Aravind, Dinesh alias Chiyaan, all from nearby Koththankulam, D. Seetharamakrishnan alias Puppy, 24, of Paaraiyadi in Tirunelveli Town, and the hunt is on to nab a few more.
In the second incident, which is the sequel to the murder of Sankarasubramanian, farmer A. Mariappan, 37, of Gopalasamudram was beheaded on Wednesday morning, and his head was placed at the spot where Sankarasubramanian was murdered.
Police have arrested S. Siva, 23, M. Siva alias ‘Mottai’ Siva, 24, both from Mela Seval, S. Petchimuthu, 20, C. Ayyappan, 20, both from Keezha Seval, P. Velmurugan, 28, M. Madasamy, 25, G. Suresh alias Nanda, 25 and K. Mahesh Raja, all from Piraanchery in connection with the murder of Mariappan.
Police personnel have been deployed in the villages under Munneerpallam police station limits as these murders had caste overtones.
Since two more murders rocked the district, Inspector General of Police, South Zone, T.S. Anbu, who visited a few villages under Munneerpallam police station limits and met his subordinates here on Thursday to discuss the prevailing situation following the caste-based murders. He, along with Superintendent of Police N. Manivannan, visited some of the villages under the Munneerpallam police station limits. While speaking with the villagers, Mr. Anbu, who assured them of unbiased and swift action against the culprits involved in the gruesome murders, appealed to them to bury enmity and ensure peace.
He also met Collector V. Vishnu at the Collectorate. Speaking to reporters after his discussion with the Collector, Mr. Anbu said adequate security arrangements had been put in place in the affected areas following the murders and the assailants, who orchestrated the murders, arrested.
Over 1,500 police personnel had been deployed as part of the security arrangements, the IG informed.