Tamil Nadu gangster kills cop in bomb attack, dies of injury

TUTICORIN: A policeman who was attacked with a country bomb by a history-sheeter on his head died on the spot at Vallanadu Reserve Forest area in Tuticorin district on Tuesday. According to police, constable Subramanian, 28, was part of a team that was in hot pursuit of Duraimuthu, 26, when it came under attack. The gangster, too, suffered fatal injuries and died on the way to hospital.
The deadly clash happened near the hideout of the accused in the forest area at Manakarai in Srivaikuntam where a special police team landed to catch him.
Duraimuthu and three others were hiding in a small forest department building when the team led by a sub-inspector reached the spot around 1pm. “Our teams surrounded three of his companions but Duraimuthu fled the spot. Subramanian followed him,” Tuticorin S Jayakumar said. A country bomb was hurled by the accused which however did not harm anyone. After a nearly 200 metre chase, the constable almost caught hold of the accused when he hurled another country bomb which landed on Subramanian’s head, leaving him dead in a pool of blood.
“The accused was also badly injured as the pellets and iron nails in the bomb damaged his hand and stomach, leaving him battling for life,” Tuticorin superintendent of police S Jayakumar said. Denying it was an encounter killing, the SP said he suffered blood loss and died on the way to the hospital. The body of the cop and the injured history-sheeter were taken to the Tirunelveli government medical college and hospital in the SP’s striking force vehicle. A car used by the accused to reach the spot and weapons were recovered from them. A case has been registered against the history-sheeter for murder and under sections of the Explosive Substances Act.
Duraimuthu of Velur near Srivaikuntam hails from the thevar community and has three murder cases against him. The first was carried out in Velur in 2015 and second a double murder at Eral, also in Tuticorin, while the third one was at Pettai in Tirunelveli last year. The victims were all dalits belonging to the pallar community.
These were in addition to attempts to murder and harm cases and he has been absconding. “We got information that he was plotting a murder and the Srivaikuntam DSP got intelligence about his hideout. Constable Subramanian was among the six-member special team that set out to nab Duraimuthu,” Jayakumar told TOI. Subramanian who joined the police force as constable in 2017 got married less than two years ago and has a 10-month-old baby.
Condoling Subramanian’s death, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a solatium of Rs 50 lakh to his family and a government job based on education qualification to a relative.