4 held for city cabbie’s murder

The accused have been identified as Jayasudha and Feroz Khan of Tiruchy, Hariharan of Viralimalai and Jagadesh of Chengalpattu. Kottampatti police, to whom the suspects were handed over by the special team, said that they were secured from their hideout on Thursday.

After the preliminary inquiry, police said that the gang murdered Naganathan, a 54-year-old resident of MGR Nagar in Chennai, in order to take the car from him. On September 5, the four-member gang hired a Toyota Innova car from Chromepet, claiming that they were going on a trip to Courtallam. On September 8, when his employer, Sundar, contacted him last, Naganathan told him that he was in Tirunelveli with the passengers. Since then, his mobile phone remained switched off. As Naganathan failed to return as per the schedule, Sundar filed a complaint with the Ashok Nagar police station.

He was subsequently found dead in Melur near Madurai, after which a police team from Ashok Nagar went there to conduct inquiries.