CHENNAI:A 40-year-old person working as wireman with TANGEDCO was killed and his father seriously injured when a three-member gang attacked them at Kotturpuram on Wednesday allegedly because of a property dispute.
According to police, Thyagarajan, a resident of Peeliamman Koil Street, was riding a two-wheeler on Lake View Road with his father Govindaraj on the pillion around 1.30 pm when they were attacked.
The two were returning from a meeting with officials of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department with regard to a civil dispute when the gang that was riding a bike and wearing helmets ran into them making it look like a genuine accident. Before Thyagarajan could gather himself up, the trio hacked him and also attacked Govindaraj who tried to rescue his son. Thyagarajan died on the spot and Govindaraj is battling for life at the Government Royapettah hospital.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Ravi, a local DMK functionary, had undertaken construction of a residential apartment adjacent to the Peeliamman temple. In order to gain better access to the site, he had allegedly taken possession of 5,200 sq feet of land, which was claimed by residents as belonging to the temple.
Upset over this, Thyagarajan and a few others moved the HR& CE department seeking action against Ravi. They also got a stay order from court barring Ravi from using the pathway.
Even as tension simmered in the neighbourhood, Ravi managed to obtain power connection to his site. On Tuesday, some TANGEDCO staff came to the site to provide the connection which further escalated the tension. The impasse came to an end with a petition filed before Kotturpuram police. Following the murderous attack, Ravi and his associate Thomas were arrested.