CHENNAI: A 26-year-old history-sheeter has been brutally murdered in Tiruvallur district. Rakesh, alias Appu, was found beheaded and his hands tied in the early hours of Saturday. Rakesh belonged to Mavuthampedu village near Minjur. He had been living with his grandmother at Veppathur village, near Ponneri, for the past two years, stated the police.
The villagers found the decapitated body on Saturday morning. The severed head, meanwhile, floated down a canal along the Ponneri-Pazhaverkadu road in Methoor panchayat. Police said this is a busy road frequented by villagers and there are also several schools in the area.
After preliminary investigations, police said that a few residents had seen four men reaching the place on two motorbikes. “They said there was a heated argument. We suspect that the men beat up Rakesh and tied his hands before cutting his head off,” said the police officer.
The police also said that the suspects must have thrown the head in the canal. The Minjur police have registered a case and sent the body and head for postmortem at the Ponneri Government Hospital. Police said that Rakesh had cases of murder and attempt to murder pending against him.
In 2021 Rakesh and his friend had beaten to death a man who had caught him while stealing petrol from his motorbike. Rakesh’s murder could be a fallout of the 2021 killing, the police added.