An advocate P. Kamaraj, and his relative Sakthivel, both aged 45, were murdered by an armed gang in Kuppankulam village under the Nachiyarkoil police station limits in Thanjavur district on Monday night.
The gang, armed with sharp weapons, targeted Kamaraj and Sakthivel separately. Police said around 8.45 p.m., Kamaraj was returning home on a two-wheeler with his father Parthiban riding pillion, when the gang intercepted them near a school and hacked him to death on the spot, while sparing his aged father.
The gang members thereafter went to the house of Kamaraj apparently with the intent to murder his elder brother Kaviraj. However, Kaviraj managed to escape. The gang members chased his relative, Sakthivel and hacked him to death on a farm land nearby.
Police sources said the murders were suspected to have been committed due to previous enmity between Kamaraj and his close relative Rajavelu, also an advocate, over a land dispute. Rajavelu is a State-level office bearer of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The Nachiyarkoil police have registered a case of murder and named Rajavelu, his son Anand, Rajasekhar, Sethumurugan and some others as accused in the killings. The sources said two persons, Anand and Kannan, surrendered before the police on Tuesday.
Further investigations are on.
