Palladam murder case: Police open fire on prime accused

Tirupur: A day after the arrest of the prime accused in the murder of four members of a family near Palladam, police on Thursday opened fire on his knees when he attempted to flee while he was being taken to recover the murder weapon. He is undergoing treatment at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).The Palladam police had on Wednesday arrested the main accused in the case, Venkatesh alias Rajkumar alias Kutty, 21, a native of North Ariyanayagipuram in Tirunelveli district, and his friend V Vishal alias Sona Muthaiah, 22, a native of Uthamapalayam in Theni, after they surrendered before the Tirupur North police. Venkatesh’s father P Iyyappan, 52, had also landed in police net the same day.On Sunday night, Venkatesh had hacked to death P Mohanraj, 49, his mother Pushpavathi, 67, aunt S Rathinam, 50, and cousin S Senthil Kumar, 47, all residents of Kallakinaru village near Palladam, over a previous enmity.According to police, it was his friends Vishal and Chellamuthu, of Manaparai in Trichy, who instigated Venkatesh to murder the four, while his father gave him a sickle to commit the crime. “After the murder, Venkatesh hid the weapon at a place that was one kilometre away from the crime scene. Special police teams led by Balamurugan, additional superintendent of police, Erode district, and S Sowmiya, deputy superintendent of police, Palladam sub division, took him to recover the murder weapon around 6am on Thursday,” a police officer said.Venkatesh, he said, suddenly threw sand and stones at the police personnel and tried to escape. He said the police personnel couldn’t open their eyes for a while, as the sand fell in their eyes.“Sowmiya opened fire on the knees of Venkatesh, who fell on the ground. They immediately rushed him to the Palladam government hospital, where doctors gave him first aid and referred him to CMCH,” the officer said. Addressing the media, Tirupur district superintendent of police Dr P Saminathan said, “Venkatesh tried to escape from our custody. We had no option but to open fire at him.” Another police source said they had nabbed all the four accused in the murder case. Police had earlier formed five special teams to crack the case and nab the perpetrators.