The Kalakkad police have arrested four youths who allegedly attempted to murder a teen and his elder brother in a secluded place near Kalakkad on Thursday. Hunt is also on to nab a teenage girl who was involved in the incident.
Police sources said the 18-year-old boy from an intermediate caste residing in a village near Panagudi was in love with a girl from Scheduled Caste community from the same area. They both were students at the Government Higher Secondary School in Panagudi. When the girl developed relationship with another youth, the boy told her that he would show their photos to her mother in a bid to marry her. Upset over this, the girl did not speak to him for a few weeks.
Against this backdrop, the girl reportedly contacted him over phone on Thursday (April 8) and wanted to renew their relationship. She also told the boy to bring ₹ 25,000 to a place in Tirunelveli to meet her.
Believing the girl’s words, the boy told his elder brother Sudarmani about it and the brothers came to Tirunelveli with ₹1,000. When she was not in the predetermined place in Tirunelveli, the boy contacted her again and she asked him to come to Bethania near Kalakkad.
On reaching a secluded place near Bethania, the girl’s relatives – P. Muthu Mano, 27, of Vaagaikulam near Moontradaippu, A. Chandrasekar, 22, of Pottaiyadi, S. Kannan, 23, of Bethania and M. Murugesan, 19 of Pottaiyadi, - thrashed the boy and Mr. Sudarmani. They took ₹1,000 and their bike from them.
When the brothers tried to retaliate, the four tried to kill them with machetes. However, the brothers managed to escape and alerted the Kalakkad police, who immediately launched a search in the area and nabbed all the four. Four machetes and five country-made bombs were seized from them.
The Kalakkad police have registered a case against the four under Sections 294 (b) (doing something obscene to annoy others), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 387 (committing of extortion, puts or attempts to put any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt to that person), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code and Section 5 (A) of Explosives Substances Act 1908 read with 109 (abetting an offence) IPC.
Police are investigating if the arrested youth were really the girl’s relatives or contract killers hired for murdering the duo considering the nature of the weapons and the explosives they were carrying.
