THOOTHUKUDI: Seven years after the murder of a 42-year-old man at Nagalapuram forest area, the Thoothukudi police arrested four suspects, on Monday.
According to sources, the Sankaralingapuram police arrested four suspects identified as K Gopalakrishnan alias Kodangi (64), E Karuppasamy (40), S Rajarajan (36) and K Ramakrishnan (55). The deceased was identified as Ponnusamy alias Kumar of Virudhunagar district.
Sources said that Ponnusamy was found murdered in a secluded place in Nagalapuram on December 23, 2018, during a drunk brawl and a murder case was registered at the Sankaralingapuram police station based on the injury marks on the body.
Due to lack of strong evidence, the suspects could not be traced, their motive behind the crime could not be solved, which left the case pending for seven years, added the sources.
Superintendent of police, Albert John formed a special team to nab the suspects under the supervision of Vilathikulam Sub-Division Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ashokan in February.
"The team re-examined previous witness statements, digital evidence, injuries on suspects, and testimony of the victim's family. They also identified individuals who left the village after the incident," said Albert, adding that the renewed and technical investigation helped them narrow down to these four suspects.
Albert said that the police digitally ascertained the presence of the accused at the place of the murder and also confirmed the injuries sustained by the suspects in the scuffle.
All the four were missing from the village for more than three years, which raised a strong suspicion, the SP added.