Chennai: A 3-year-old son of a local DMDK unit functionary was found dead. The boy had been gagged and his limbs tied in a ring well near Periyapalayam in neighbouring Tiruvallur district during the early hours of Thursday. The deceased was identified as Hemnath, resident of Muthalamman Koil street, Azhinjivakkam near Periyapalayam.
Murugan, the father of the deceased who is secretary of the DMDK Ellapuram unit, woke up around 3 am to find the boy missing from his bed and the house door open. He woke up his wife Hema and neighbours who, after a frantic search, spotted the child in the ring well in a bushy area adjoining their habitat.
On information reaching them, the Uthukottai DSP, S. Manickam and Periyapalayam Inspector, Venkatachalam rushed to the scene and moved the child's body to a government hospital where the doctors declared the child as brought dead.
The villagers spotted a youth named Tamil Selvan (25), loitering around the scene of crime and he was nabbed and handed over to the cops. The villagers claimed that the youth had earlier stabbed a teacher, and had gone scot-free, and had also set his own bike on fire. Preliminary investigations dismissed the claims of the villagers as unfounded rumours.
“We have not found anything adverse in the antecedents of the youth as yet. We are yet to verify the claim that he was mentally deranged. The circumstantial evidences points to the fact that he is the murderer”, a senior police official privy to the investigation told DC. Sources indicated that the youth would be further investigated to ascertain the motive behind the murder.
Considering the tension simmering in the village, a posse of police force was posted to prevent the tension from escalating further.
Following an autopsy, the body was handed over to the family and the funeral was conducted with full police protection. The boy is survived by his parents and two sisters, Surekha and Sunitha.
