Panchayat prez leads gang to kill teen after quarrel

CHENNAI: The Kancheepuram police on Monday arrested three people, including a panchayat president, for killing a 19-year-old college student following a quarrel during New Year celebrations in Vippedu Colony, 80km from the city on Sunday .
Police said an armed gang led by S Arul, (31), president of Vippedu panchayat, entered the house of K Santhakumar and hacked him to death with sharp weapons in front of his father D Krishnan (48) on Sunday night.
Police investigation found that Santhakumar had a quarrel with Arul. "A group headed by Arul was in front of Santhakumar's house on New Year eve. Santhakumar and his father asked them to stop the revelry as it was too noisy. A quarrel ensued, but neighbours defused the situation. Around 7pm on Sunday, a sixmember armed gang barged into the house and attacked Santhakumar. His father, who tried to stop them, was also attacked," said superintendent of police S Manoharan .
Neighbours rushed Santhakumar to a government hospital in Kancheepuram where doctors declared him brought dead around 9pm. Based on a compliant from Krishnan, Kancheepuram taluk police registered a case and arrested three of the six people on Monday. The arrested are S Arul (31), a member of Viduthalai Siruthaigal Katchi and Vippedu panchayat president, and his friends G Santhanam (26) and M Ashok (26).
Police booked them under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Two police teams are searching for the three remaining accused .