COIMBATORE: Three people, including a 17-year-old minor, were arrested on the charges of murdering a 32-year-old three-wheeler cargo vehicle driver at Panapattipirivu near Vadachittur. Superintendent of Police V Badrinarayanan congratulated the special teams for tracking the accused within the 12 hours after the incident.
The murdered man R Prabhakaran was a resident of Kamaraj Nagar at Sundarapuram. He is survived by his wife P Shanmugapriya and two daughters.
The persons arrested for Prabhakaran's murder are I Sadiq Basha (36), a resident of Podanur and Prabhakaran's brother-in-law, Basha's friend Manikandan (24) of Madukkarai and his 17-year-old cousin.
Basha had married Prabhakaran's younger sister Bhakiyalakshmi in 2012, and due to differences of opinion, the couple separated five years ago. Prabhakaran was killed for objecting to his estranged brother-in-law's attempt to divorce his wife.
Police said Manikandan and the minor had hired Prabhakaran's cargo vehicle from the Sundarapuram Sidco area and told Prabhakaran to arrive at Kattampatti to load some materials. However, Basha arrived near a stone quarry at Panapatti Pirivu, where the trio murdered Prabhakaran by slitting his throat inside the vehicle, and escaped from the spot.
Based on the information from locals, Negamam police arrived and sent Prabhakaran's body to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) for a postmortem. Based on a complaint from Prabhakaran's wife, Shanmugapriya, police carried out an investigation.
During the investigation, it was found that Bhakiyalakshmi was living separately with her children after leaving Basha. Meanwhile, Basha had developed a relationship with another woman from Madukkarai, and the woman's brother, K Manikandan, also supported him.
However, Prabhakaran was upset with Basha as he was trying to marry another woman by leaving his sister in distress. Moreover, Basha had also approached the court to divorce Bhakiyalakshmi. Prabhakaran tried to stop Basha's second marriage. However, Basha came to know about his moves, hatched a plan and killed Prabhakaran.
"Sadiq Basha handed over a knife, a new phone, and a SIM card to Manikandan and asked him to bring his vehicle," police said.
Negamam Police registered a case against the trio under Section 103 (punishment for murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The arrested persons have been remanded in judicial custody.