KARAIKAL: PMK’s Karaikal district secretary was murdered by an armed gang in Thirunallar on Friday night.
The unidentified group of assailants brutally hacked Pattali Makkal Katchi’s Karaikal district secretary K Devamani near his house in Thirunallar on Friday night. The police suspect that Devamani was murdered out of vendetta.
Devamani was residing with his family near the Surakkudi intersection in Thirunallar. According to sources, he was returning home from his party office, located near Lord Shani Temple, with an associate on a motorcycle, around 10.30 pm on Friday.
Footage from a surveillance camera indicates that an armed group followed him in their motorcycles and intercepted him when he was nearing his house. The group hacked him on his head, hands and shoulders and left him in a pool of blood. The group fled the scene on motorcycles.
Devamani’s supporters, family and relatives came to his aid within minutes. Devamani, who had already sustained grave and ghastly injuries, passed away. His kin rushed him to Karaikal Government General Hospital, where the doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Devamani’s murder has caused tensions in Thirunallar town. The police also deployed hundreds of police personnel in Thirunallar and Karaikal. They are also on the lookout for suspects.
K Devamani was appointed PMK’s district secretary for Karaikal in 2012 and was in politics for around 25 years. He contested as a candidate on his party’s ticket in the Thirunallar assembly constituency in the Puducherry Assembly Elections in 2016. According to the affidavit he declared for that election, he was accused in 60 cases, acquitted in many and convicted in some of them. Devamani was also the district president of a farmer association named Pattali Uzhavar Periyakam.
A case has been registered in Thirunallar Police Station. Further investigations are underway. Devamani’s relatives and PMK party members protested near Karaikal Government General Hospital on Saturday morning and demanded the arrest of perpetrators.