Oppn heat on DMK ahead of Erode bypoll after 2 violent, public murders in district next door

Both crimes took place in crowded areas, and the assailants — five in both cases — managed to escape.

A senior police officer in charge of law and order in the region denied that the two crimes were connected and had any connections. The officer also said the assailants have been identified and will be arrested soon.

Indicating that these are crimes of personal enmity, another officer said both victims had earlier booked in murder cases.

The first murder took place around 6.30 pm on Sunday: R Sakthi, alias Sakthipandi, 31, who came from Madurai, was killed at Pappanaickenpalayam area of Coimbatore. A gang of five surrounded Sakthi and allegedly shot at him before hacking him to death. A senior officer who is looking into the case said the victim worked for a real estate company in the city.

Refusing to confirm that gunshots had been fired, the officer said the assailants wore masks and came on motorcycles. “When Sakthi saw them, he tried to run away. But the five chased him and caught him by a small house on the road. Then they killed him,” the officer said.

On Monday morning, Gokul, 24, was killed with sickles on a busy street near the Coimbatore court complex. “Gokul had gone to court in connection with a murder case. The assailants saw him while he was drinking tea at a nearby shop and attacked him,” an officer said.

Asked about the back-to-back murders in public, the senior officer in charge of law and order said, “They (killings) are a concern (but) the two crimes had nothing to do with each other. Both were acts of revenge by criminal gangs, and both victims had been accused of murder. Sakthi had been arrested earlier under Goondas Act, and (also) over a September 2020 murder case in Coimbatore; Gokul was also a murder accused. Neither case has anything to do with politics.”

What is being seen as an embarrassment for Coimbatore police, besides the delay in arresting the assailants and the crimes taking in busy public places, four of the five people who killed Gokul allegedly walked away with their weapons. Gokul, too, was carrying a weapon when he was attacked, an officer confirmed.

Asserting that the law and order system in Tamil Nadu has collapsed, Palaniswami said Chief Minister M K Stalin should take urgent steps to restore the situation.

In a statement, BJP’s Annamalai said the DMK government has turned Coimbatore into a city of crimes and pointed out that not only did the two crimes take place in full public view but gunshots were also fired. “Since they (DMK) came to power, the number of murders and thefts in the state has gone up. They have made Tamil Nadu look like a state with unprecedented crimes…” he stated.