Kin agree to collect slain auto driver’s body

Madurai: The family members of a 65-year-old autorickshaw driver who was hacked to death by a gang on Saturday night decided to accept his body on Tuesday. This was after police announced that four people had been detained for the murder and the district administration would ensure a compensation of Rs 3 lakh and possible government job to the son of the deceased Vijayakumar alias Appadurai.
Vijayakumar from Melaseval village, a softspoken man from the thevar community, was hacked to death by a gang while he was driving back home after work. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. Following the murder, Munnirpallam police filed a case and four special teams were formed to crack the case. Since Vijayakumar didn’t have any criminal history his murder angered his community people. Fearing retaliatory violence, police deployed a 50-member police team at the village for security. The body was recovered by the police and sent to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital for postmortem.
Family members and relatives refused to collect the body till the murderers were arrested and due compensation was give to his family. Investigation revealed the possibility of revenge murders for communal reasons. Eight months ago, a man from the konar community was hacked to death by the thevar community after the man allegedly chided a group of people consuming liquor on the temple premises in Melaseval. All the murderers in this case vacated the village after obtaining bail and Vijayakumar was related to one of them.
Hence, police deduced that it was a revenge murder and detained four people from the konar community. Meanwhile, revenue and police officials negotiated with the relatives and family members who were on a sit-in strike at Melaseval and got them to withdraw it.