Man murdered, kin block road with body in protest

Ramachandran (48) of Valasaithevar Nagar of Nagachi village was murdered at Uchipuli bazaar on Saturday evening. Though relatives of the deceased accepted the body from Ramanathapuram Government hospital, they took away the body from ambulance after stopping the vehicle near Nagachi bus stop. From there, they took the body in procession on Rameswaram –Uchipuli road and blocked the road.  They demanded that the police should detain the accused under Goondas Act and also sought adequate security to them. They also demanded compensation, sources said.

When contacted, Ramanathapuram police Superintendent Omprakash Meena said they suspected that the family of Ramachandran’s relative Murugesan, a resident of the same locality, hatched a plot to murder him over an old quarrel.

According to the police, Murugesan’s sons Muneeskumar (27) and Karthik (22) assaulted Ramachandran with iron rods leaving him dead on the spot. These two accused have been arrested, sources said.

As the relatives did not give up their protest for a long time, officials including Ramanathapuram Revenue Divisional Officer Suman, Additional Superintendent of Police Loyola Ignatius, and other officials from the Revenue department held talks with them. Finally, the officials managed to convince them into giving up the protest on the assurance that steps would be taken to fulfil their demands. Later, they took away the body from the spot at around 5 pm.

Rameswaram Deputy Superintendent of Police M Mahesh said Ramachandran and his son had assaulted Murugesan’s sons Muneeskumar and Karthik in 2017 over a trivial issue of parking autorickshaw in a parking lot. Following this, Uchipuli police had filed a case against them under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (ii) of the IPC. The murder that happened two years later is said to be a revenge for the assault.

After the road remained blocked for almost three hours, vehicular traffic was diverted through Parappanvalasai and Thamaraikulam, police said.