Journalist attack case: two assailants arrested in Sivakasi

Police claim one of the accused was also involved in the murder of a journalist in 2017

The Sivakasi Town police have arrested two persons in connection with the brutal attack on M. Karthik (51), a journalist with the Tamil magazine Kumudam Reporter on Tuesday night. The police said that the duo reportedly confessed to having assaulted the journalist with an iron rod outside a hotel on Virudhunagar Road here.

The Sivakasi Town police have registered a case of attempt to murder. The accused were identified as K. Poomurugan (42) and V. Pandiarajan (40) of Sivakasi, Virudhunagar Superintendent of Police, P. Perumal, said.

Report on rift in AIADMK

The duo had reportedly said that they were pained on reading a news report carried in Kumudam Reporter on an intra-party feud in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The report revolved around a rift between the Minister for Dairy Development, K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji, who is also the party Virudhunagar district secretary and Sattur MLA, M.S.R. Rajavarman.

Mr. Rajavarman, who was Mr. Bhalaji’s candidate, had won the by-election from Sattur Assembly in April 2019 by a slender margin. The election was necessitated in Sattur Assembly segment after the then ruling party MLA, Ethirkottai Subramanian, switched his loyalty to Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran.

Meanwhile, Mr. Subramanian rejoined AIADMK in the presence of Chief Minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, at Salem recently and he has been seen as close to the Minister in all party meetings and government functions. However, Mr. Rajavarman was conspicuous by his absence in many functions held in the district in recent days.

2017 journalist murder

While both Poomurugan and Pandiarajan have a criminal record, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Sivakasi), Prabhakaran said that Pandiarajan was also an accused in the murder of another journalist , S. Karthigai Selvan (43) of Naveena Netrikann in 2017.

Karthigai Selvan was hacked to death by a gang outside a hotel on Virudhunagar-Sattur highway. The accused is out on bail in the case, the police said.

The police added that Karthik, the journalist attacked on Tuesday night, had lost a few teeth and sustained bleeding injuries on his head and face. He has been admitted to a private hospital here. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leaders in the region, KKSSR Ramachandran, and Thangam Thennarasu, visited him at the hospital.