The murder was committed in broad daylight around 10.30 am, in the presence of police.
Tirunelveli: An under-trial was gruesomely hacked to death while he was being taken to a Thoothukudi court in an explosives case from the central prison at Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli on Friday.
The murder was committed in broad daylight around 10.30 am, in the presence of police, stunning onlookers on the busy Tirunelveli-Thoothukudi national highway.
Balasubramanian alias Singaram (48) of Pullaveli village in Thoothukudi district was an alleged notorious gangster, who has more than five murder charges against him in various police stations in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts. Balasubramanian, known as a close associate of Pasupathy Pandian, was arrested in an explosives case in January last year was housed at the central prison at Palayamkottai.
On Friday morning, he was taken to Thoothukudi district sessions court, where his case came up for hearing. Taken in a police vehicle, Balasubramanian alias Singaram was accompanied by five police gunmen led by the Thoothukudi district armed reserve police sub-inspector, Veerabahu.
When the police vehicle slowed down at the police check post at KT Nagar on the Tirunelveli-Thoothukudi national highway, a gang of 13 unidentified persons came in two cars, diverted the attention of the policemen by spraying chilli powder, water and attacked Balasubramanian, a handicapped, by dragging him out of the police vehicle.
In their attempt to save Balasubramanian, three gunmen sustained simple injuries. A gunman, who tried to trigger his gun, got a cut injury in his right forearm and the murderers too damaged his gun and fled the scene.
The murder committed in flash of a second stunned the onlookers, who along with the police rushed the under-trial to Tirunelveli government medical college hospital, where he was declared dead.
Inspecting the murder spot at KTC Nagar, along with the SPs’of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts, the Tirunelveli city police commissioner, Thirugnanam, said that four police parties have been constituted to nab the culprits, who however are yet to be identified.
However, the police did not rule out the possibility of the involvement of the supporters of Subash Pannaiyar, as Balasubramanian alias Singaram, who was one of the accused in an attempt made on Subash’s life a few years ago.
