Woman, daughter murdered over land dispute

COIMBATORE: A 55-year-old woman and her daughter were brutally murdered by their neighbour over a land dispute at Subbegoundenpudur in Anamalai on Saturday night. The incident happened at around 8 p.m. when both the deceased M Palaniammal (55), wife of Murugan who works as a porter, and her younger daughter V Jothimani (31), stepped out of their home to attend nature’s call. At that time, their 27-years-old neighbour Marimuthu, who is also a porter, followed them and allegedly beheaded Palaniammal with a sickle.He then assaulted Jothimani with the same sickle. In this case, Jothimani sustained grievous injuries and fell on the ground. Hearing a noise, Palaniammal’s elder daughter A Makudeswari tried to save Jothimani.Seeing her, Marimuthu also assaulted Makudeswari on the backside of her neck using the same sickle. Both Palaniammal and Jothimani died on the spot, while Makudeswari is in a critical condition. The murders happened when there was no power supply in the area. When power supply resumed a little later, Palaniammal’s husband Murugan and her son Manikandan found the three women in a pool of blood.They immediately informed the police and Makudeswari was taken to a local hospital. From there, she was transferred to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, where she is currently undergoing treatment. Saturday’s incident followed a land dispute between Murugan and Marimuthu. Marimuthu occupied poramboke (unassessed) land which was earlier occupied by Murugan at Sungam in Subbegoundenpudur. Regarding this, Palaniammal frequently quarreled with Marimuthu.A couple of days back, Marimuthu asked Murugan to give additional land so that he could extend his hut. Upon hearing this from her husband, Palaniammal refused to give the land and a quarrel ensued between her and Marimuthu. Following that, Marimuthu murdered Palaniammal and her daughter Jothimani. “Marimuthu, who is a distant relative to Murugan, fled the scene in a moped after threatening Murugan and his son Manikandan of dire consequences. He was already involved in a case of murdering Suresh in 2005,” a police source said.Based on a complaint from Manikandan, Anamalai police registered a case and launched a hunt for Marimuthu.