CPM man murdered near Chengelpet

Chennai: A 50-year-old mason was kidnapped and murdered by a three-member gang near Chengelpet in Kancheepuram district, 50 km from the city on Saturday. Tamil Selvam's body was found in a forest area in Thirumanigai Kandigai near Chengelpet on Sunday morning. The kidnappers had smashed his head with a rock and killed him, police said.

The deceased, who is also a functionary of CPI (M), was regularly doing sub-contract work on panchayat construction projects while residing at Mahatma Gandhi street, K.K. Nagar in Chengelpet. Apart from construction work, Dinakaran was also running a provision store managed by his wife Elizabeth Rani.

On Saturday around 5 pm, Tamil Selvam was riding pillion in a motorcycle with one of his employees, Suresh along Old G.S.T road when he was kidnapped. Three persons who came in an autorickshaw flagged the bike down and assaulted Suresh. They then forced Tamil Selvan into the auto and fled.

An injured Suresh informed Elizabeth Rani who approached the Chengelpet Town Police station with a complaint. Investigations revealed that Dinakaran, one of the kidnappers, was a resident of the same area and he was rounded up that night by the police.

“Dinakaran’s wife Padmini works at the provision store owned by Tamil Selvan’s family to which Dinakaran objected. Owing to this, the couple had issues which led to Padmini to separate from her husband,” according to an investigating officer.

Dinakaran told the cops he was angry with Tamil Selvan for being responsible for his separation from his wife.

“He however claimed that he left him to the other two guys after the kidnapping and claimed innocence in the murder,” an investigating officer said.

A hunt is on for the other two, Vinoth and Jayaram of Chengelpet. All three suspects are auto drivers, police said.