5 held for murdering rowdy in Trichy; one shot at while trying to escape

Trichy: Police have arrested five people for brutally murdering a history-sheeter over previous enmity at Srirangam on Sunday night. Among them, one of the accused was shot at by police as he tried to escape and attacked police officers near Butterfly Park in Melur on Monday evening. Police said M Suresh alias ‘Aattukutty' Suresh, 35, was categorized as an ‘A category rowdy'. He was riding a motorcycle with his wife, S Rahini, 30, near a coconut godown at Ambedkar Nagar on Sunday evening when a six-member gang launched an indiscriminate assault on him with machetes. Suresh suffered critical injuries on his right hand, right shoulder, right side of the head, ear, and neck, and died on the spot. Rahini who tried to save her husband sustained an injury to her left thigh. Upon receiving information, Srirangam police arrived at the crime scene and recovered Suresh's body and sent it for postmortem. Rahini was shifted to Srirangam GH for treatment. One of the attackers K Jambukeswaran, 36, from Thiruvanaikovil, is a ‘C category rowdy' and was arrested on Sunday evening. During an inquiry, he informed police that he kept the weapons used in the murder under a bridge in Melur. So, inspector M Vetrivel, sub-inspector C Rajagopal and the team took him to the spot and recovered the weapons. At that time, Jambukeswaran caught hold of a machete and tried to escape from police. As the team followed him, he attacked the inspector and sub-inspector with the machete. SI Rajagopal suffered injuries on his hand. So, the inspector opened fire at Jambukeswaran, who suffered an injury on his left knee. Both police personnel and Jambukeswaran were admitted to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Govt Hospital.Police also arrested C Nanthakumar, 28, and R Vimalraj, 24, both from Keela Vasal in Srirangam, R Balakrishnan, 29, from Drainage Street in Srirangam and D Suryaprakash, 34, from Srirangam in connection with the case. They are yet to arrest R Helmet Prasath, 19, from JJ Nagar in Srirangam. Police said Suresh was murdered in retailation for the murder of another rowdy, J Chandra Mohan, 37, on April 28, 2020. Suresh with two accomplices had decapitated Chandra Mohan while he was riding a moped with his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter on the bridge near Devi Theatre in Srirangam. They surrendered at the Srirangam police station with the severed head on the same day.