Police crack Palladam murder case; one of 3 suspects held within hours

Coimbatore: Police have cracked the murder of four of a family and detained one suspect on Sunday night within hours after the gruesome crime at Kallakinaru village near Palladam in Tirupur district.The detained man was identified as C Chellamuthu, 24, a native of Vaiyampatti near Manaparai in Trichy district, working in a private company at Madhapur near Palladam.The prime suspect has been identified as A Venkatesh alias Selvam, 27, from North Ariyanayakipuram in Tirunelveli district and a third suspect as V Vishal, 20, from Paramathevanpatti near Uthamapalayam in Theni District. Venkatesh was working as an acting driver and was running a chicken shop at Kallakinaru village near Palladam.While chief minister M K Stalin has announced a solatium of ₹2 lakh each to the families of the victims and deputed DMK minister Vellakoil Saminathan to meet relatives of the victims to console them, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has condemned the state government for the murders. Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai and AMMK founder T T V Dhinakaran also condemned the murders.According to the complaint lodged by Kanagarathinam, 39, from Kallakinaru village, Venkatesh and his accomplices had hacked to death her husband Mohanraj, 49, his mother P Pusphavathi, 67, his aunt S Rathinam, 60 and cousin S Senthil Kumar, 47.“On Sunday around 6pm, my husband was on his way to our agriculture field when he noticed Venkatesh and two others consuming liquor on our land. So, he scolded them. Around 7.35pm, the three came to our house and threatened Mohanraj,” she said. They telephoned their relative Senthil Kumarm who rushed there, forcing the trio to retreat. However, they returned after a short while with a sickle and wooden logs, she said.“So, we started running for safety. However, Venkatesh chased and attacked my mother-in-law and assaulted her with a sickle. When my husband tried to protect her, he attacked him. The two accomplices instigated Venkatesh to hit on my husband’s mouth for questioning them. Immediately, Venkatesh struck on my husband’s mouth,” said Kanagarathinam in the complaint.Hearing the screams, Mohanraj’s aunt Rathinam rushed out of the house. Venkatesh attacked her too indiscriminately, leaving her dead. When Senthil Kumar tried to flee, Venkatesh chased him. Senthil Kumar fell on the ground when Venkatesh pounced on him and assaulted him using the sickle, she said. Kanagarathinam and her 12-year-old son ran into the house and locked themselves inside till the trio fled.Police said Venkatesh and Mohanraj had a tiff a few years ago. Mohanraj had rented out his eatery to another person who had procured chicken from the stall run by Venkatesh. Once, when the person had failed to pay the money for the chicken, Venkatesh had forcibly taken away the gas cylinders from the hotel. Back then, Mohanraj had quarrelled with Venkatesh for taking away the cylinders from the hotel he had rented out. This enmity continued since then, police said. Venkatesh had also worked as a car driver for two months for Senthil Kumar two years ago, police said.Police said Venkatesh was facing four cases, including two attempts to murder cases, in Tirunelveli district. Meanwhile, BJP and Hindu Munnani cadres staged a protest raising slogans against the state government as Mohanraj was a BJP functionary.