TENKASI: A government pleader was hacked to death inside his office allegedly by his relative on Wednesday, prompting advocates to stage a road blockade demanding the arrest of the suspect.
According to police, K Muthukumarasami (46) of ARS Nagar in Oormelazhagiyan village near Kadayanallur worked as government pleader at the Shengottai District Munsif Court. On Wednesday morning, when he was in his office near Nadubulk signal in Tenkasi, the suspect Sivasubramanian and his relative, arrived and attacked him with a sickle.
Alerted by the public, Tenkasi police rushed to the spot, and shifted the severely injured pleader to the District Government Headquarters Hospital. However, he succumbed to injuries, sources added.
As news of his death spread, more than a hundred advocates from the Tenkasi court sat on the Tenkasi-Madurai Road demanding immediate arrest of the suspect. Traffic on the busy road was affected due to the protest. Superintendent of Police P Aravind held negotiations with the protesters and persuaded them to disperse. Police registered a murder case and launched a manhunt for the suspect, identified as Sivasubramanian from Oormelazhagiyan.
Police sources said Muthukumarasami and Sivasubramanian hail from the same village and that the murder may have stemmed from a property dispute. Muthukumarasami is survived by his wife Rajathi (43), a son and a daughter.
The government pleader was a member of the DMK Advocates Wing. AIADMK Kadayanallur MLA C Krishnamurali, DMK Tirunelveli South district secretary V Jayabalan, DMK Advocates Wing district organiser Thangaraj Pandian and advocates gathered at the hospital on receiving the news.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami expressed deep shock over the murder stating that the law and order has broken down under the DMK government.