ARIYALUR: Twenty years after they allegedly murdered a villager and two years after the Supreme Court held them guilty, nine members of a family who managed to evade arrest for so long were finally sent to the Tiruchy prison on Monday. Another accused died during trial.
According to sources, C Edward (48) of Varatharajanpettai from Andimadam in Ariyalur and nine other members of his family had a land dispute with fellow villager Michael in 1997. Edward and Michael were also at loggerheads over the panchayat elections in that village.
After a local court in 1997 ruled in Michael’s favour, Edward and his relatives attacked him. Michael suffered severe injuries and died in a hospital three days later. Michael’s wife Jesintha lodged a police complaint against Edward and his family and the trial took place in Perambalur District Court. In 2002, the court pronounced all 10 guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Edward appealed against the verdict in the Madras High Court. Around 2005, the High Court too prounounced them guilty but commuted the sentence to five years of imprisonment.
The family appealed against the verdict in Supreme Court the same year. Even as trial was on, Lawrence, the third accused, passed away. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the Madras High Court in 2015. Yet, none of the accused was arrested.
“The group managed to evade public attention for two years. Recently, the Perambalur court issued an arrest warrant against the nine surviving men guilty of Michael’s murder. We arrested eight of the accused on October 28,” said Nithya, an inspector from Andimadam police station. A special team led by sub-inspector S Karthik then arrested the main accused Edward from the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital where he was undergoing treatment. After medical check up, all nine were lodged in Tiruchy Central Prison on Monday.
According to sources, the family was politically connected, which was why they managed to evade arrest for 20 years. Also, frequent transfer of policemen at the Andimadam police station meant there was no follow-up on the SC order. No wonder, the victim’s wife claimed she was often threatened by the accused.
The nine other accused members of Edward’s family are C Periyanayagasamy (50), S Chinnapan (80), S Alphonse (46), C Gregory (48), C Arogyaraj (490, C Amirtham (52), A Joseph (65), C Anthonysamy (45) and A Lawrence (60).