Former panchayat president hacks man to death near Thanjavur to avenge murder of daughter

TRICHY: A former panchayat president, along with three of his relatives, hacked a young man to death near Thanjavur on Saturday to avenge the murder of his daughter five months before.The victim, K Ajith Kumar, 29, was a painter from Melakalakudi near Mariammankoil in Thanjavur district. He had allegedly been in a relationship with P Kaviya, 26, a temporary teacher at the government primary school in Alangudi.In November 2025, Kaviya’s parents arranged her engagement to her aunt’s son. A few days later, Kaviya told Ajith Kumar that she had been engaged and showed him photos of the engagement event, which left him furious.On Nov 27, when Kaviya was going to school, Ajith Kumar confronted her and hacked her with a knife. She died on the spot. The Ammapettai police arrested him for the murder, and a trial had recently commenced in the sub-magistrate’s court in Papanasam.Ajith Kumar was released on bail around a month ago. On hearing about his release, Kaviya’s father, M Punniyamoorthy, 53, a former panchayat president of Alangudi, became agitated.Around 2am on Saturday, Punniyamoorthy, accompanied by his relatives M Logesh, 22, and D Ramalingam, 30, both from Kannithoppu, and A Karuppaiya, 55, of Pulavarnatham, broke into Ajith Kumar’s house while he was sleeping. The four men hacked him to death with billhooks.Following the murder, the four men surrendered at the Ammapettai police station. The Melathur police recovered the body and sent it to the Thanjavur Government Medical College Hospital for postmortem. They registered a case and began investigations.