THOOTHUKUDI: In a suspected case of revenge attack, a 43-year-old advocate was hacked to death in broad daylight at Soreespuram near Korampallam on Wednesday. Superintendent of Police L Balaji Saravana inspected the spot and formed three teams to nab the accused. The deceased, P Muthukumar, was an advocate and also owned a pawn shop at Soreespuram.
Sources said a gang of six men on three bikes chased Muthukumar and murdered him in front of his pawn shop in the afternoon hours. The gang is said to be supporters of Korampallam-resident Rajesh, who had previously murdered Muthukumar's younger brother Sivakumar, near the Thoothukudi court campus in 2019. Rajesh had murdered Sivakumar in order to avenge the killing of his elder brother Athipalam around two decades ago, sources said.
According to official sources, the rivalry between Rajesh and Sivakumar began after the murder of Beer Mohammed, a supporter of Pasupathipandian, who is a gangster and founder-president of Devendrakula Vellalar Koottamaippu Pasupathipandian, in 2003. Athipalam was killed by the Pasupathipandian gang in 2005 to avenge Mohammed's murder. Sivakumar was named as the third accused in Athipalam murder case.
In order to avenge his brother's death, Rajesh murdered Sivakumar in 2019 when the latter was reaching the court campus for a case hearing. Over 16 persons, including Rajesh, were imprisoned, said sources adding that the Sivakumar's brothers Muthukumar and Ramkumar being law practitioners, were fighting hard for Rajesh's conviction. Owing to this, the supporters of Rajesh allegedly murdered Muthukumar. SIPCOT police have registered a case and are combing CCTV footage to identify the accused.