TIRUPPUR: District police on Monday arrested a sub-inspector, who is under suspension in an honour killing case, for the attempted murder of the complainant and key witness in the high court advocate Muruganantham murder case. As the next step, police are planning to take into custody and interrogate a private school owner and his son, who are suspected to be the prime accused in the advocate’s murder, sources said.
M Thangavel (42) of Ganapathipalayam in Dharapuram is the complainant and first eyewitness in the murder of the Madras High Court advocate L Muruganantham (41). On July 28, the advocate was hacked to death near Thenmalar Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Dharapuram, Tiruppur district. In this case, 18 people have been arrested, including R Dhandapani (65), owner of the school and Muruganantham’s uncle, and his son Karthik.
On the morning of July 7, when Thangavel was travelling on his bike, an unknown gang came in a car and allegedly attacked him with sharp weapons. The victim escaped with injuries and is undergoing treatment, sources said. Suspecting that this might be a case of witness intimidation, Dharapuram police have launched a probe into the matter, they added.
On Saturday, in connection with this incident, police arrested seven people, including a mercenary from Kerala, Dhandapani’s wife and Karthik’s mother-in-law. Following this, Dharapuram police also arrested SI K Saravanan (52) from Tirunelveli, who was arrested for his involvement in the ‘honour killing’ of 23-year-old Dalit IT engineer C Kavin Selvaganesh in Tirunelveli and placed under suspension. He is the father of Surjith, the prime accused in Kavin’s murder.
“Dhandapani, his son Karthik, and others have been lodged in the Palayamkottai Central Prison. Saravanan was in contact with Dhandapani while he was in the same prison for the honour killing case. At that time, conversations had taken place among them regarding Muruganantham’s murder. He has a part in the plot against Thangavel,” a police officer said.
“We are going to take Dhandapani and Karthik into custody next for interrogation in the Thangavel case. All information will come to light during the inquiry,” the officer added.
While hearing the case of Kavin’s murder, II Additional District Court in Tirunelveli issued a non-bailable warrant against suspended SI Saravanan, second accused in the case, after he failed to appear. However, CB-CID police informed the court that he was lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison in another case. Judge S Hema then adjourned proceedings to August 4.