Police are on the lookout for a criminal wanted in 20 criminal cases, including six cases of murder, in an ‘encounter’ at Kovalam, a sleepy coastal village on the outskirts of the city on Friday evening.
This is the second ‘encounter’ within a week, when a Jharkhand thief robbed a chain at gunpoint from a woman who was hunted in Kancheepuram last Monday.
Police sources claimed that when a team arrested 39-year-old V of Thirumalaipuram, Thirumalaipuram near Pudukottai in the district at around 3.30 pm on Friday in connection with the recent murder of a youth from Sivagamipuram near Pavoorchatram in Tenkasi district. Durai tried to catch Murugan, so he launched. They were attacked, and as a result, law-enforcers had to fire in self-defense, and in this the perpetrator was shot.
After 23-year-old M. Jagadish of Sivagamipuram under Pavaorchatram police station area was recently murdered allegedly by Durai Murugan and his associates, he buried the body at Tukarammalapuram on the outskirts of Palayamkottai.
A drunken man from Tukarammalapuram Joel allegedly told his friends that he and his associates had killed Jagdish and buried him near his native place, he was picked up by the police. During interrogation, Joel told the police about Durai Murugan’s role in Jagdish’s murder. The body was retrieved last Monday.
When the police team led by Sub-Inspector Raja Prabhu was on the lookout for Durai Murugan, the police got information that he and his accomplices were hiding in a secluded place among thorny bushes near Kovalam under Muttiahpuram police station area.
As the police team including Mr. Raja Prabhu and three constables reached the spot at around 3.30 pm, according to the police version, Durai Murugan tried to attack him with a knife while two of his accomplices fled. However, the police killed him.
Superintendent of Police S. Jayakumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Thoothukudi, Ganesh, Inspector of Police, Muttiahpuram, Jayaseelan visited the encounter site and sent the body to Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital for post-mortem.
Police personnel have been deployed in Tirumalaipuram and Muttiahpuram after the encounter.