The Chengalpattu police have arrested a 42-year-old man suspected to have murdered five persons, and was planning to murder another in Namakkal.
The suspect has been identified as S. Suresh Kumar of P.V. Kalathur in Chengalpattu district. His brother, S. Vijayakumar, who was the village panchayat president, was murdered in 2012 in public by a six-member gang over sand mining in the Palar bed.
According to the police, Suresh Kumar took a vow to eliminate the gang to avenge the killing of his brother. The six-member gang was arrested in connection with the murder of his brother, and later released on bail.
Following this, Suresh Kumar murdered Kuppan, one of accused in the murder of Vijayakumar. In 2014, another accused, Duraidass, was murdered in Guindy. Later, Nithyanandam was murdered in P.V. Kalathur, outside his house, in the same year. In 2015, Chandru was murdered in Chennai, and Sekar was murdered next year in broad daylight in Chengalpattu district.
The last member of the gang, Venkatesan, was absconding, said police sources.
Police sources said Suresh Kumar was arrested for the murders, and was subsequently released on bail. He had murdered each one when he was on bail following the arrest. After murdering Sekar, he fled.
Recently, the police found that Venkatesan was in Namakkal during investigation, and learned that Suresh Kumar was also in the same locality to murder him. On Friday, a special team of police reached Namakkal and surrounded the house where Suresh Kumar was hiding. They arrested him at gunpoint.
