KARUR: A father and son, both agriculturalists, who had taken efforts to retrieve an encroached lake, were brutally murdered at Muthalaipatti village in Karur on Monday morning, allegedly by a gang of six. As the deceased, Vandu alias Nallathambi (40) and his father Ramar alias Veeramalai (65), had filed a public interest litigation against encroachment of the lake at the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, police suspect the encroachers’ involvement in the murders.
Police said Nallathambi was returning home on his bike from a Tiruchy market when a gang attacked him with sharp weapons, killing him. The gang then went to his house, 500m away, where Veeramalai was waiting with his 12-year-old grandson for a school van. As the gang killed Veeramalai, the boy fled, police said. Kulithalai police have filed a case and probe is on.
Bids to retrieve encroached lake caused murder
The wives of both men were at home when the murders took place. Immediately after the murders, Karur SP Pandiarajan rushed to the spot and conducted a preliminary inquiry. Sources said the deceased had worked with activists and an advocate to try retrieve a village lake spread over 39 acres from encroachment. As the lake had been dry for many years, some 50 people had encroached upon it and started paddy cultivation. This had affected irrigation of other lands, sources said.
Sources said the court had ordered the district administration to retrieve the water body but the encroachers had refused to move out. As a result, a contempt case was filed in the court. Following this, based on a HC direction, surveyors and the village administrative officer had surveyed the lake and marked the boundaries on July 25. “This seems to have upset the encroachers,” sources said.