Accused in Tamil Nadu SSI murder case gunned down in encounter; MPs call it it is “lawlessness in uniform”

Chennai: In yet another extra-judicial killing in Tamil Nadu, the Tiruppur District Police on Thursday morning gunned down one of the accused in the brutal murder of a Special Sub-Inspector of Police when he went to investigate a dispute between a father and his two sons.

Manikandan, who has six criminal cases filed against him, had killed M Shanmugavel on Tuesday night using a sickle at a farm owned by AIADMK MLA C Mahendran in Gudimangalam village in the district where the three worked and stayed. Manikandan, his brother Thangapandian and their father Moorthy fled the scene after the crime on Tuesday night and were arrested late Wednesday.

On Thursday, a police team took Manikandan to a water stream near Upparu Dam at Chikkanur in Gudimangalam to retrieve the weapon he used to kill the SSI. On reaching the water stream, according to police, the accused took out the sickle and attacked sub-inspector Saravanakumar and tried to escape from their custody.

“The police team had to resort to shooting since Manikandan began attacking policemen. He was warned twice to put down the sickle but he didn’t heed. He was shot at twice while one bullet hit him leading to his death. Police had no choice but to use their guns to save themselves,” Tiruppur Superintendent of Police Yadav Girish said.

His body is now at the Tiruppur Government Medical College Hospital for postmortem. This is the third encounter killing in Tamil Nadu in 2025 with police gunning down a 29-year-old history sheeter and a 28-year-old suspect in a series of chain snatching incidents across Chennai in March.

Encounters have become the talk of the town in Tamil Nadu with Chennai alone witnessing four such extra-judicial killings in July 2024 following the murder of state BSP chief K Armstrong.

While laying the blame on such killings on the police, human rights activists have been harping on the long-pending police reforms and non-implementation of guidelines imposed by courts. If those are implemented, the frequency of such encounters might come down, they say.

Congress MPs from Tiruvallur and Sivaganga -- Sasikanth Senthil and Karti P Chidambaram – condemned the encounter saying such extra judicial killings have no place in a civilised society.

Senthil, a former Karnataka-cadre IAS officer, asked if the brutal killing of a policeman justified another cold-blooded murder by the state, without even ascertaining what really happened.

“Manikandan, who was gunned down today, was a poor labourer—not a habitual offender, not a rowdy. Even your usual weak and lazy justifications fall flat here. When the state starts executing instead of prosecuting, the line between justice and vengeance collapses. This is not law and order, it is lawlessness in uniform,” he said.

“Tamil Nadu Police, you have blood on your hands. And to whoever gave this order -- justice will find you. Maybe not today. But one day, it will knock on your door,” the Congress MP added.

57-year-old Shanmugavel, who was serving at the Gudimangalam Police Station near Udumalpet in the district along with constable Azhagu Raja – who were on night patrol – rushed to the farm at 11 pm on Tuesday where Moorthy and his two sons, Manikandan and Thangapandian, work and reside after receiving a complaint that they were involved in an altercation.

“When the SSI and constable Azhagu Raja reached the farm, they found the sons assaulting the father. The SSI called for an ambulance for injured Moorthy to be sent to a hospital while trying to settle the dispute. That is when all three then began attacking the SSI and Manikandan took a sickle and attacked him. He died on the spot,” T Senthil Kumar, IG (West), said.