Murder most gruesome that can upset the country occurred in Tamil Nadu. A AIADMK party member of the Muthupettai Panchayat Union Ward was murdered and his head was split in Muthupettai on Monday, reportedly by a gang in revenge for the 2015 murder in which the member was convicted, police said.
The deceased, R Rajesh (38) of Manalmedu, Kovilur Village, near Muthupettai, was elected in 2020 as an independent of Ward 11 of the Muthupettai Panchayat Union. Later, he joined the AIADMK. On Monday, he was travelling by bike from Kovilur to Alangadu on East Coast Route (ECR).
As he crossed the road near the town of Muthupettai, the panchayat compost yard, a gang that had been lying in wait in a car and was claimed to have taken action on a few two-wheelers. They ran his bike around the vehicle, causing him to fall off. Sensing trouble, Rajesh tried to run, but the men grabbed him and hacked him with machetes, the police said.
The gang reportedly cut off his head and took it with them on a two-wheeler bundled in a lung, but fell to a road bump in Azad Nagar in Muthupettai. Earing this, the people raised an alarm, but the gang got free.
The police recovered Rajesh’s body and recovered the revolver from the murder spot. A few buses have been stoned by Rajesh’s supporters and, as friction has prevailed, police security has improved in the region with H.M. Jayaram, Inspector General of Police, Central Zone visiting the area and examining security arrangements.
According to the police, the death of Rajesh could be linked to the murder of 2015. Rajesh is said to have broken the flag of a particular neighbourhood group in 2014. Following this, members of the association reportedly assaulted Rajesh and his supporters.
Though Rajesh escaped undisturbed, his relative Veerapandian was assassinated. The following year, police said, Rajesh’s gang killed a Madan of Kovilur Village in retaliation. Rajesh was convicted in the case but was released on bail and contested in the elections to the local authority in 2019. Police say Rajesh may have been killed by Madan’s associates. The communities involved in the crime come from two separate backward communities (OBCs),
