Man kills younger brother for living with dalit girl

Coimbatore: In a suspected case of honour killing, a 22-year-old man was hacked to death by his elder brother for having a relationship with a dalit girl in Mettupalayam on Tuesday. The girl, who too was assaulted, has been admitted to hospital. The police have formed two special teams to arrest the murderer.
K Kanagaraj, 22, a daily wage labourer from Vellipalayam road at Mettupalayam who belonged to the valayar community, was in a relationship with a 16-year-old girl who belonged to the arundhathiyar community. This was resented by his brother K Vinodhkumar, 24, who kept asking him to quit the relationship. Kanagaraj sought the help of his father Karuppasamy to arrange a marriage. Karuppasamy agreed to help his son, but advised him to stay in a separate house for the time being.
Five days ago, Kanagaraj rented a house at Sri Rangarayan Odai area on Vellipalayam road and was living there with the girl. Vinodhkumar confronted his brother on Tuesday and assaulted him and the girl with a sickle. Kanagaraj, who suffered a deep cut injury on the head, died. The girl who was injured in the head and right eye was taken to the government hospital in Mettupalayam and was later referred to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital. Vinodhkumar fled the spot.
“It could be a honour killing. We have formed two special teams to nab the murderer,” said a police officer.
Police officials from the Mettupalayam police station rushed to the spot after the murder. Sujit Kumar, superintendent of police, Coimbatore district, also visited the crime scene. The body was sent to the government hospital, Mettupalayam, for postmortem.
The Mettupalayam police registered a case against Vinodhkumar under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
More than 20 armed reserve police personnel were deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident.