Mystery shrouds killing of inspector

It may be recalled that Maduravoyal police inspector Periyapandian, succumbed to a bullet injury on Wednesday morning when he along with four other colleagues, including Kolathur inspector Munisekhar, from Chennai went to a hide out of the suspects, who were allegedly involved in a gold heist at a shop in Kolathur on November 16, in Pali district of Rajasthan.

Senior officers here confirmed that the gun used to kill Periyapandian was certainly a police gun and the single bullet found in his body was shot from the same weapon. But who pulled the trigger remains unclear. “Only after the completion of investigation, we will get a clear picture,” a top Chennai police official said, when asked if it was an accidental fire by Munisekhar.

However, Munisekhar on Wednesday morning told senior officers over phone that his pistol slipped, when he retreated with other team members and one of the suspects grabbed it and killed Periyapandian, who was a few metres behind. His version was conveyed as it is to the CM by the Chennai police, said sources.

Meanwhile, local media reports in Pali claimed that Periyapandian died of a long distance shot and not a close- range firing.

It is also said that Munisekhar was hit by an iron pipe by one of the gang members when he tried to pull out the gun. In the impact, the gun slipped from his hand and one of the gang members picked it up and shot Periyapandian to death.

Some officers in Chennai, who are not convinced with the version of the team that went to Rajasthan, said that if the gang member had killed Periyapandian, he would not have stopped with a single shot. He could have fired a couple of more shots to make sure that the police officer was dead. Why did the gang leave the two guns at the scene after firing?

Moreover, Rajasthan police had indicated that the suspects had no history of using fire arms though there were a few cases registered against them locally. However, Rajasthan police is investigating the death of the inspector based on complaint filed by Munisekhar.