TIRUCHY: Fifty-three-year-old Punniyamurthy spent months patiently waiting for his daughter’s murderer to come out of jail. Last month, K Ajith Kumar got bail, and Punniyamurthy found an opportunity.
On Saturday, the father, along with three relatives, caught Ajith at his home asleep and hacked him to death. All the four surrendered before the Ammapettai police immediately after.
Ajith (29) was in love with Punniyamurthy’s daughter P Kavya (26), a resident of Mela Kalakkudi near Thanjavur and a temporary teacher at Government AD Welfare Primary School in Alangudi. Although both belonged to the same community, Kavya’s parents were opposed to her relationship with Ajith, who was a painter in the same locality. They fixed her alliance with a relative on November 23 last year.
In order to break off their relationship and dissuade Ajith from pursuing her, she shared her engagement photos with him. Kavya’s decision to end their 13-year relationship offended Ajith.
On November 27, Ajith waited for Kavya near Mariamman temple in Kothattai colony, which was her regular route to work. He confronted Kavya about the engagement, triggering a heated argument between the two.
Ajith took out a knife he had in his possession and stabbed Kavya on her head, killing her on the spot. He left her body in a pool of blood and went to the Ammapettai police station and surrendered himself.
He had been lodged in the Pudukkottai prison and had been out on bail since last month amid his trial.
However, Ajith did not go to his village immediately. He finally returned on Friday, and Punniyamurthy, a DMK member and former Alangudi panchayat president, along with his relatives M Logesh (22), D Ramalingam (30) — both from Kannithoppu near Alangudi — and A Karuppiah (55) from Pulavarnatham village, went to his house around 2 am on Saturday and hacked Ajith to death in his sleep.
The Melattur police are investigating further.