CHENNAI: Enraged by the murder of S Mayanadi alias ‘Palla’ Mayandi on Palayamkottai road near Tirunelveli district court on Friday, his relatives appealed to the police to immediately arrest all accused behind the killing.

The relatives on Saturday said that they would not accept the body until all the accused were arrested. However, the Palayamkottai police, which filed a case following the incident, have so far arrested seven persons in the case.

Earlier, an armed gang, which followed his movements on his way to the court to appear at a hearing in a crime case on Friday, hacked him to death.

Mayandi, who’s a key accused in the killing of N Rajamani of Vadakoor in 2023, was the victim of revenge murder. A video about the murder scene went viral on social media prompting action to arrest the culprits.

According to a statement from the police, when Mayandi was approaching the court, some of his foes, who waited near a hotel, attempted to attack him, and subsequently he ran towards the court to evade his assailants.

At that time, when Uikattan, Special Sub Inspector, who was guarding the court, found one of the assailants in possession of a machete and chased him down before nabbing him.

The accused was identified as M Ramakrishnan (25) of Vadakoor, Keelanatham. Meanwhile, other assailants hacked Mayandi to death near the court. After inquiring, the police arrested R Sivamurugan (19) of Vadakoor, M Thangamahesh (21), N Manoraj (27), A Muthukrishnan (26), S Kannan (20) of Anavarathanallur and K Kannan (22).