Five held for murder plot in Chennai

Five men who had reportedly come to the city to carry out a hit-job were arrested by the police on Sunday.

They had come to the city to murder a school employee, a resident of Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram district.

R. Dinakaran, joint commissioner of police (east zone), said a Kotturpuram police team intercepted a sports utility vehicle, in which the men were travelling, during a routine check.

The men were unable to give the police personnel a convincing reason behind their visit to Chennai. They were detained.

During questioning, they confessed they were hired by Dinakaran of Paramakudi to carry out a hit-job. The gang was led by Kutty (24) alias Ranjith Kumar, and included Karthikeyan (19), Prabhu (21), Rajendran (20) and Stephen (19). Dinakaran had paid the men Rs. 3 lakh to carry out the murder.

V. Balakrishnan, deputy commissioner of police (Mylapore), said Kutty is a history-sheeter. He was involved in an attempt-to-murder case in the past, he said.