The Seythunganallur police have cracked a case of murder in which a railway staff was killed though it was initially believed to be a road accident.
When N. Senthamaraikannan, 56, of KTC Nagar on Palayamkottai outskirts, working as a superintendent in the Puthukkudi Railway Station near Srivaikundam, was returning home on his bike on January 16, a car hit his two-wheeler even as he was crossing Kaalvaai village. He was admitted to the hospital but he died the same day. The police registered a case of fatal accident based on a complaint from his son S. Pradeep, 30. The police collected CCTV footages to identify the car. They found that it was a preplanned murder. They nabbed M. Mahesh, 33, of Vallanaadu and S. Sudalaimani, 29, of Kaliyaavoor, who were travelling in the car involved in the incident along with their associates Jegan Pandian of Moolikkulam in Palayamkottai, Kandakumar and Marthandam of Pakkapatti.
As the duo was quizzed, they told the police that Senthamaraikannan had land dispute with the family of O. Samrat of Nazareth over the past 15 years. When Samrat went to Goa recently with his friends Mahesh, Sudalaimani, Jegan Pandian, Kandakumar and Marthandam, Samrat was killed in an accident in Goa on January 4 last. As Senthamaraikannan termed it as a ‘god’s punishment’ in the social media, his friends, in retaliation, knocked him down with the car to show it as an accident.
Superintendent of Police S. Jayakumar complimented Mr. Arul and his team for cracking the murder case.
Efforts are on to nab Jegan Pandian, Kandakumar and Marthandam. Police are probing the angle of contract killing as the persons allegedly involved in this case are from ‘black spot villages’ with dubious background.
“We suspect that Samrat, after entering an agreement with these suspected contract killers for killing Senthamaraikannan, might have taken them to Goa before orchestrating their plan. However, Samrat got killed in the accident in Goa before the plan was executed. Someone from Samrat’s family, after seeing the comment, might have carried forward the plan and got it executed,” a police officer privy to the investigation said.
