DMK councillor, policeman arrested for killing army man in Krishnagiri

A DMK councillor and his policeman-son are among nine persons arrested for allegedly beating to death a 29-year-old army personnel over an argument on washing clothes in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district.

The army man, Prabhu, succumbed to his injuries sustained last week, at a private hospital in Hosur on Tuesday evening. R Chinnasamy, the DMK councillor of Nagajonahalli town panchayat, and his accomplices Pulipandi and Kaliappan, who were on the run for the past few days, were picked up from Kuppam in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday morning.

The councillor’s son, Guru Sathyamurthy, who is working with the Tamil Nadu Armed Police, and five others -- Manikandan, Vediappan and Madhaiyan, Rajapandi and Gunanidhi – were arrested on February 9 for their involvement in the case following a complaint filed by Prabhu’s brother Prabhakaran, who is also an army personnel.

Police said Prabhu, who was in the village on leave, was brutally assaulted by Chinnasamy and his men on February 8 following an argument over the army personnel’s sister-in-law washing clothes using water from a public tap that is used for drinking water.

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“There was an argument between Prabhu and a few others on the issue. His brother, Prabhakaran too joined the argument. It turned into a brawl on February 8 evening after the councillor along with his men barged into Prabhu’s residence and began attacking them,” a senior police officer told DH, adding that the accused and the deceased were relatives.

While Prabhu and Chinnasamy were admitted to a hospital, the latter was shifted to a private hospital due to the grievous nature of injuries he sustained on his head in the brawl. Prabhu died Tuesday evening.

“The case was then altered from 307 (attempt to murder) to 302 (murder) of the IPC. Since Chinnasamy and two others were absconding, we launched a man hunt to nab them. We recorded their arrest Wednesday evening,” the officer added.

The BJP latched on to the murder to target the DMK government for “cruel disrespect to our Indian Army.” State BJP chief K Annamalai announced a protest outside district collectorates on Thursday condemning the murder.

“I invite all Ex-Servicemen to join me for a protest from the war memorial in the next few days against the @arivalayam party for the appalling state of governance making the state unsafe for even Army men,” Annamalai wrote on his Twitter page.