THOOTHUKUDI: Two days after a twin murder occurred in Kovilpatti over alleged business rivalry, the Thoothukudi police on Saturday arrested three persons in connection with the incident. The accused persons were identified as Karthik (32), a chicken meat stall owner, and his friends K Seemakani (32) and M Mariraj (31) of Kovilpatti.
Sources privy to the investigation revealed that the trio killed Vellathurai (49), a fish meat stall of Gandhi Nagar, and his friend Maharaja (55) of Keezha Pandavarmangalam late on Thursday, owing to business rivalry.
Karthik, who has been running a chicken meat stall near Vellathurai's fish stall, located in front of Ramasamy Das park, grew envious of the latter's rise in sales. On Thursday night, he, along with his two friends, barged into the fish stall and hacked Vellathurai using a knife while he was fast asleep. Vellathurai tried to confront them, but was overpowered and died on the spot, sources said.
Meanwhile, Maharaja, who was sleeping nearby, attempted to flee. But, the trio chased him down and killed him on the road. They also damaged the CCTV camera in the stall premises, sources added. Following the incident, Seemakani and Mariraj fled to Madurai, but Karthik stayed back and attended Vellathurai's funeral, police said.
However, after police officials started questioning nearby shopkeepers in connection with the murder, Karthik sensed trouble and fled to Madurai. On Saturday, special teams formed by Thoothukudi SP L Balaji Saravanan nabbed the accused from Madurai. All three of them were remanded later, sources added.