A test identification (TI) parade was held at the Vellore Central Prison for Men in connection with the alleged murder of 53-year-old social activist Raj Mohan Chandra on Saturday. Four of the eye-witnesses, including the deceased’s wife Mini (alias) Eliyamma Joseph, were taken to the Central Prison to identify the accused, who were serving their remand terms at the central prison in connection with the murder.
Sources in the police and prison departments said the TI parade was held in the presence of Tiruvannamalai Fast Track Court Judge (Judicial Magistrate) Raj Vadivel Senthil. The TI parade excluded the prime accused Venkatesan (35), his brother Selvam (38) and their father Veerasamy (65) and Selvam’s wife Meenakshi (31) as they were familiar to the prime eyewitness Eliyamma Joseph.
The TI parade was conducted to identify six others accused who were either arrested or had surrendered - Murugan (32) of Vada Andapattu, Chandrasekar (29) Thenpallipattu, Ayyappan (32) of Annaiprandhan, Vijayaraj (41) of Anaipirandhan, Sadayan (30) of Vada Andapattu and Subramani (40) of Sengunam village.
“Each of the accused persons was made to appear as part of a group of 10 inmates of the prison. The witnesses identified all the six accused to the FTC judge. It took nearly three hours from 1.45 pm on Saturday,” said a source and added that the eyewitnesses were accompanied to the prison by investigation officer and inspector of police Vinayagamurthy.
Chandra was hacked to death by a gang when he was returning home in his motorbike during the early hours of July 2. The murderers intercepted Chandra’s motorcycle near Simhakula Theertham on Girivalam Path and sprayed chilli powder on his face. They attacked him with sharp weapons, killing him on the spot. “Chandra was murdered due to enmity between the prime accused Venkatesan and the deceased. They harboured enmity since 2006,” said a police officer, who was part of the investigation team in the murder case.
Eliyamma Joseph, in her complaint, stated that she saw a gang led by history-sheeter and councilor of Tiruvannamalai municipality Venkatesan and his brother Selvam hacking her husband to death.
Within few hours of the murder, Murugan and Chandrasekar surrendered before the Polur Court. They confessed to the crime, while the police arrested three others based on a complaint lodged by Eliyamma Joseph on the same day.
Venkatesan and Selvam surrendered before the judicial magistrate court-V in the Vellore District Combined Court Complex on July 3. The investigation team, later, arrested Ayyappan, Vijayaraj, Sadayan and Subramani on July 10 and remanded them in the prison.
Comments
0 comment