Coimbatore police form eight teams to nab murderers

COIMBATORE: Two days after a 31-year-old man was hacked to death near a private college at Pappanaickenpalayam on Nava India Road, the Race Course police on Tuesday said it was a case of gang rivalry. Police have formed eight special teams to nab the murderers.
An investigation officer said R Sathyapandi, a native of Arapalayam in Madurai, was murdered by a gang led by Sanjay, of Coimbatore city.
Sathyapandi, who was involved in the murder of Hindu Munnani supporter C Biju, 31, at Ram Nagar in the city on September 12, 2020, was working for a realtor in Coimbatore city, he said.
“Sathyapandi and his gang members were supporting a theatre owner, who had leased the facility to a businessman. They often locked horns with the gang led by Sanjay, of Coimbatore, who supported that businessman. The two gangs often tried to show their muscle powers over the theatre issues. They were also involved in a kangaroo court over the clash between two student groups at Nava India,” the officer said.
He said both Sathyapandi and Sanjay were trying to establish themselves as undisputed rowdies in the city and run the kangaroo court without any interruptions. “So, Sanjay and his gang finished off Sathayapandi.”
Around 6.30pm on Sunday, he said, a five-member gang led by Sanjay chased Sathyapandi on Nava India Road. “When he took refuge in a roadside house, the gang followed him and hacked him to death. They also opened fire at him and two bullet injuries were found on his body.”
The officer said they had formed eight special teams to nab the murderers. “We have collected CCTV footage from the locality and traced the registration number of a motorcycle that the gang used. We suspect that a Tuticorin-based notorious rowdy might have supplied a pistol to Sanjay. Our teams are working on various angles to arrest the five-member gang.”