MAYILADUTHURAI: A pair of siblings allegedly killed their stepbrother and another person at Mangainallur in the district by serving them liquor spiked with cyanide on Monday evening. The duo has been arrested.
The deceased have been identified as V Palani Gurunathan (55), who owned a forge at Mangainallur, and his friend and employee P Purasamy (65) of Thathankudi. According to sources, Purasamy, who was a blacksmith at Palani Gurunathan’s forge, joined the latter in his drinking sessions after work.
On Monday evening, neighbours found Palani Gurunathan and Purasamy lying unconscious near the forge. They also spotted an opened liquor bottle and an unopened one. While the two were rushed to Mayiladuthurai General Hospital, they were declared brought dead, sources added.
A police team led by DSP Sanjeev Kumar inspected the spot where the two were found unconscious and retrieved the liquor bottles. The bodies were subsequently sent to the Government Medical College in Tiruvarur for autopsy.
According to a report from the deputy director of forensic sciences department in Tiruchy region on Tuesday, the blood and visceral samples of the deceased showed traces of cyanide. The same was confirmed by a separate test at the regional forensic lab in Thanjavur.
Collector AP Mahabharathi told TNIE, “Police investigation found that Palani Gurunathan’s stepbrothers, V Manoharan and V Baskaran, who had a property dispute with him, spiked the liquor consumed by the victims. The suspects may have bought the liquor days ago. They opened the bottles, laced it with cyanide and gave it to Palani Gurunathan and Purasamy. Manoharan and Baskaran have been arrested for the murder.”
Sanjeev Kumar said, “The case (of suspicious death) will be altered to murder. We are still interrogating the suspects regarding where they got the liquor and cyanide from and how they managed to hand it over to victims.” On Tuesday afternoon, around 100 people, including family members and relatives of the deceased, protested near Mangainallur over the deaths. Mayiladuthurai RDO V Eurekha pacified the protesters.