KOLLAM: The police have arrested all eight accused in connection with the murder of alleged gang leader Aluva Athul, who was hacked to death at Karunagappally on Saturday morning.
Four of them were caught by the police near Murikkumvayal, Mundakkayam, in Kottayam district around midnight on Saturday.
The car used by the accused to escape was also seized. Vishnu, a native of Karunagappally, and Hussain, Muhammed Ashiq and Naufal, natives of Kulasekharapuram, were arrested from Mundakkayam.
The accused who were allegedly directly involved in the crime are Aneer, Shamnad, Vishnu, Hussain, Ashiq and Naufal. Shinu Peter and Faisal allegedly helped them.
After the murder, the four member group escaped from Kollam in a car and travelled through various places before reaching Mundakkayam in an attempt to enter Tamil Nadu. The police, who had been secretly following the gang, tried to stop them at the 26th Mile on the Kanjirappally Erumeli route but failed to catch them.
The group then moved towards the Erumeli route after evading the police and turned back from Mundakkayam towards the Punchavayal route. Their vehicle got stuck on a narrow road near the Murikkumvayal Government School.
While they attempted to escape after abandoning the vehicle, the police and local residents caught them. With this, all eight accused in the case were arrested, and those taken into custody by the Kottayam police were later handed over to the Kollam police.