COIMBATORE: The mastermind of a murder that took place in the city in February 2023 was arrested on Tuesday morning. He suffered fractures on both his legs while trying to escape from police and was admitted to hospital.
According to police, accused Dhilli alias Dhiljith, a native of Kerala, became friends with M Sanjay Raja (31) of Sivanandapuram and hatched a plot to kill Sathyapandi, a realtor-cum-gangster with whom Sanjay had a rivalry. On February 12, Sanjay and his gang hacked and shot Sathyapandi on the Avarampalayam -Nava India Road. Sanjay and his gang members are behind bars.
Police sources said Dhilli was in hiding since 2018 and moving across Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and West Bengal. A team of the Coimbatore city police was on his tail since the murder.
On Tuesday around 3.30 am, a patrol team spotted a person moving about in a suspicious manner and approached him. But Dhilli ran for a kilometre and jumped off a railway bridge. In the impact he suffered fractures on his legs.
Dhilli arrived in the city on Tuesday morning by train and was moving to a hideout, when he was intercepted by the patrol team. Police found in his luggage a sickle, 7 gm of methamphetamine drug, a laptop, mobile phones and Aadhaar cards of his associates who were arrested in this case. According to police Dhilli is facing several cases including abduction and murder.