A 27-year-old history-sheeter was arrested for murdering a pawnbroker a week ago in Vellore city.
According to police, L Prabhakaran (alias) Old Town Prabhakaran of Salavanpettai was held for abducting and murdering B Muthukumar (26) of Sathuvachari on February 19. Prabhakaran was remanded to judicial custody at the Vellore Central Prison for Men.
A gang of five to six members wielding weapons abducted Muthukumar while he was talking to a friend in front of his pawn shop on the NH-46 service lane in Vellore, at 8.30 pm last Wednesday. The gang hacked him to death inside a moving vehicle and threw his body on the railway overbridge in Shenpakkam. “Vasur Raja and his associates had demanded money from Muthukumar a few weeks ago. When Muthukumar refused, they murdered him, “ police said.
Four special police teams have launched a dragnet to nab gangster A Raja (alias) Vasur Raja (29) of Pudhur Vasur, also a prime suspect in the murder. Police are planning to seek the custody of three persons - K Balaji (27) of Sathuvachri, A Raja (30) and J Mahendran (28) of Pudupalayam, Chengam Taluk, Tiruvannamalai, who surrendered before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court-II at Egmore in Chennai, in connection with the case on Tuesday. Sathuvachari police booked a case under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (armed with deadly weapons), 364 (kidnapping for murder) and 302 (murder).