TIRUNELVELI
‘Nadar Makkal Sakthi Iyakkam’ founder-president ‘Rocket’ Raja, cited as one of the 10 accused in the case of murder of Assistant Professor Senthil Kumar, a Dalit, in Palayamkottai on February 26, was produced in a court here on Monday.
Judicial Magistrate of the exclusive court for hearing cases registered under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Chandra, after admitting the police’s petition, granted two-day permission to the Investigating Officer to interrogate Raja in connection with the murder.
An armed gang came to the residence of ‘Kodiyankulam’ Kumar at Anna Nagar in Palayamkottai on February 26 with an aim of murdering him. The gang hacked to death Kumar’s son-in-law P. Senthilkumar (35), an Assistant Professor in a private engineering college on the outskirts of the city, while Mr. Kumar managed to escape.
Mr. Kumar later told the police that the gang, which targeted him following a land dispute, murdered his son-in-law in a case of “mistaken identity.”
Based on his complaint, the police registered a case against 10 persons, including Raja, his elder brother Balaganesan, an advocate, Balamurugan, a physician, and eight others. While some of the accused were nabbed, the others, including Raja, went underground.
Against this backdrop, Raja and four others were arrested by the police at gunpoint at a star hotel at Teynampet in Chennai and he was lodged in Coimbatore Central Prison after the authorities suspected that his life would be under threat at Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai.
With heavy police escort, Raja was brought to Palayamkottai around 12.45 p.m. to be produced in the court.
When the police sought five days’ custody of Raja, his counsel R.C. Paul Kanagaraj opposed it stating that his client could be exterminated through a fake encounter.
Judicial Magistrate Chandra, while posting the case to May 23, sent Raja to police custody for two days and allowed his counsel to meet him between 12 noon and 1 p.m. during the two days.
