Seven held for twin murders

PUDUCHERRY: The police, on Wednesday, arrested seven persons accused in the twin murder of a man and his son at Samipillai Thottam here.Senior superintendent of Police (law and order) V J Chandran told reporters that the accused,  Karuna, Papi alias Prabhakaran, Manikandan, Velu alias Iyyanar, Pooni alias Gnanaoli, Sithu alias Sithnathan alias Kaniappan (all hailing from Samipillai Thottam) and Karthik alias Karthikeyan (of Kottuplayam), were nabbed by police teams under the Special Task Force inspector Bhascaradass and inspector of Lawspet circle, Ranganathan.However, the main accused, Thaadi Ganesh, and four others were still absconding. It may be recalled that Sathiamoorthy and his son Prakash were both hacked to death by an armed gang at Samipillai Thottam here, on Sunday last.Chandran said that all those caught had been thoroughly interrogated, adding that they had admitted to the offence and had given confession statements as well.He said the accused confessed that they had committed the murder at the instance of Ganesan alias Thaadi Ganesan on account of the enmity that existed between the latter and the deceased. According to Chandran, the deceased  persons Sathiamoorthy and Prakash were planning to eliminate Thaadi Ganesan and Karuna following the suicide of Sivasakthi, who had been married to Thaadi Ganesh. After learning about this, the latter engaged Karuna, Papi, Manikandan and two others with the intention of murdering Sathiamoorthy and Prakash.Karuna, Manikandan and two others, armed with deadly weapons, reached the house of Prakash first and assaulted him with weapons. They then proceeded to Sathiamoorthy’s house and he was similarly dealt with. Both the victims died on the spot.Chandran, who addressed mediapersons along with superintendent of police N T Sivadasan, said that  after interrogating the accused, it was learnt that there were more persons involved in the attack. He added that Thaadi Ganesan and four others would be nabbed soon.The SSP (L & O) also said that the Qualis vehicle and motorcycles used by the accused had been seized. Further investigations are on in this regard.