PUDUKKOTTAI: A 35-year-old man and his younger brother were hacked to death, allegedly by an eight-member gang, near a temple at Avudaiyarkoil in the district on Thursday night. The accused are suspected to have committed the crime against the two Scheduled Caste (SC) men over previous enmity and caste-based hostility.
A case, under sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, has been booked against the accused and all of them have been detained for inquiries, the police said.
The victims have been identified as K Kannan and his younger brother K Karthik (29). The accused, who arrived in bikes, confronted the residents of Kamarajar Nagar near the Draupadi Amman temple in Aavudaiyarkoil and hacked them to death with machetes.
The accused then surrendered at the Nagudi police station on Friday, the police said. According to an FIR registered based on a complaint by Kannan’s wife, Kalidass, who is a caste Hindu, had tried to forcibly marry her before she eloped with Kannan 11 years ago.
The tensions recently escalated following a dispute over a bike sale involving Kannan and another accused, Muthukumar.