Three persons, including a warden of Puzhal prison, were murdered by a seven-member gang in two different places under the Ariyalur police station limits in Vellore on Tuesday night. A total of seven men, including two main accused, were secured within an hour, in connection with the crime.
The victims were identified as Thanigaivel, 26, the jail warden, Kamesh, 29, and Divakar, 25. The gang first murdered Divakar and Thanigaivel at G.R. Palayam in Ariyalur and then murdered Kamesh near a private nursing college in the same locality.
According to police sources, the murder of the three men took place as two separate incidents: The gang murdered both Divakar and Thanigaivel at G.R. Palayam in Ariyur, followed by the murder of Kamesh near Sri Narayani College and School of Nursing. It is suspected that the murders were an outcome of previous enmity. The police have sent the bodies for post-mortems to the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital (GVMCH), Adukkambarai.
“Kamesh and the other two victims are suspected to have been leaking information about rowdy Raja alias ‘MLA’ Raja to his rival Ashok Kumar’s gang. When Raja came to know about this, he called Thanigavel and Divakar separately and took them to G.R. Palayam on the pretext of having drinks. He then made Thanigaivel call Kamesh and asked him to come near the nursing college,” said S. Selvakumar, Superintendent of Police, Vellore.
After murdering Thanigaivel and Divakar, ‘MLA’ Raja, Chamber Raja and five other gang members went to the spot where Kamesh was waiting and murdered him too. “We received information about a vehicle moving suspiciously in the locality and I ordered vehicle checks across the district. So the gang, trying to leave the State after committing the crime, was nabbed,” added Mr. Selvakumar.
