MADURAI: The city police have registered a case against seven persons, including two lawyers, for purposely ramming a car into a hotel on the Bypass Road in Ponmeni. Five employees of the hotel sustained injuries in the incident. Police suspect that a land dispute between the advocate and owner of Gowri Krishna hotel was the reason behind the incident.
According to police sources, they have registered a case against advocate R Karmegam (42), his wife K Nagamani (36) of VOC Street here, another advocate Murugaraj, Kannan, Muthupillai, Arunnagar and Shanmugam under Section 307 of the IPC (attempt to murder).
Police said Karmegam and Nagamani intentionally rammed a car into the hotel on Saturday, causing damages to the tune of `40 lakh and injuring five persons. The injured were identified as hotel manager R Manikandan, employees Manjubharathi, Muthulakhsmi, Meena and Subburam. Manikandan later lodged a complaint with the SS Colony Police.
According to sources, the hotel is run by Muthukrishnan. Karmegam was allegedly trying to encroach upon a piece of land in front of the hotel, thereby disrupting the day-to-day functioning of the hotel. Hence, Muthukrishnan filed an RTI application to ascertain whether Karmegam really owned the land or not. Manikandan claimed Karmegam had learned about his RTI application, following which he rammed the car into the hotel.