DMK youth wing organizer shoots brother dead over property dispute

Tuticorin: ‘Billa’ Jegan, the youth wing organizer of DMK Tuticorin south district, shot dead his brother over a property dispute in the early hours of Tuesday. Jegan is a staunch supporter of Tiruchendur MLA and Tuticorin south district secretary of the party, Anitha R Radhakrishnan.

The accused, who was on the run was detained by the Kerala police in Thiruvananthapuram in coordination with the Tuticorin district police and handed over to the latter.

According to police, preliminary inquiries revealed that Jegan (aged around 50 years), a resident of Chinnakadai Street, and his brother Simanji, 34, had a property dispute and it broke out once again on Monday night. As the argument went out of control, Jegan shot at Simanji’s thigh.

Simanji became unconscious and later died of excessive bleeding.

“The accused used a 7.65mm revolver. Inquiries are underway to verify if it is a licensed weapon. Precautionary measures will be taken to avert such incidents. We will tighten vigil and conduct raids based on specific information on illegal possession of weapons,” superintendent of police of Tuticorin district, Murali Rambha told TOI.

Jegan has been secured and booked under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code and 25(1-B) of The Arms Act, the SP said. Police retrieved Simanji’s body and sent it to the Thoothukudi Government Medical College Hospital for postmortem.

Police said that Jegan and Simanji are accused in the murder of a youth by name Sachin who was reportedly stalking Jegan’s daughter in May 2017. The duo and accomplices were arrested on charges of murdering him and were granted bail a few days later.

Jegan added the prefix ‘Billa’ to his name as he was a diehard fan of actor Rajinikanth and was president of the fan club named after his hit film Billa.