No arrests had been announced by Monday afternoon, and police teams were searching for the suspects. (File Photo/Representational)
A 17-year-old boy was hacked to death by a five-member gang near the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai during the early hours of Monday, in a killing that unfolded steps away from one of Tamil Nadu’s most heavily visited and policed religious landmarks.
The victim, identified as Gubendran of North Masi Street, was attacked near a corporation-run parking complex on North Avani Moola Street, close to the temple premises, police said.
According to police sources, the assault took place around 4 am, when a group that arrived on two motorcycles surrounded the teenager and hacked him repeatedly with deadly weapons before fleeing the area. CCTV footage recovered from the locality allegedly captured both the attack and the gang escaping through the narrow streets surrounding the temple.
Officers from the Vilakkuthoon police station rushed to the scene after receiving information and sent the body to the Government Rajaji Hospital for autopsy. Forensic experts later examined the area and collected evidence.
Investigators said preliminary inquiries pointed to a previous enmity linked to an altercation during last month’s Chithirai festival, one of Madurai’s largest annual religious gatherings. Police believe Gubendran had clashed near a public toilet on North Masi Street with a local history-sheeter identified as Muthumani, also known as “Thothal” Muthumani.
During that earlier confrontation, both men allegedly assaulted each other, and Muthumani sustained injuries, investigators said. Police now suspect the attack was planned as retaliation.o
According to the investigation so far, Muthumani, along with his younger brother Raj and three others – Satheesh Kumar, Hari Krishnan and Muthukumar – allegedly carried out the killing. Police said the teenager attempted to flee during the assault, but the attackers chased him down and continued hacking him until he collapsed.
No arrests had been announced by Monday afternoon, and police teams were searching for the suspects.
Authorities also said that five criminal cases, including one related to possession of weapons, were pending against the deceased teenager. Investigators are examining whether the killing was connected to local gang rivalries operating in the congested commercial and residential pockets surrounding the temple area.
The Meenakshi temple precinct, which receives thousands of devotees daily and remains under regular police surveillance, is considered a high-security zone in the city.
K Annamalai, the BJP leader, posted a video from the crime scene on social media Monday morning, showing what he described as blood stains left after the attack.
“What you see in this video is the blood stains of a young boy who was brutally murdered by a gang of five near the Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai,” he wrote.
“Drug peddlers, sexual assaulters, and murderers have a free pass in Tamil Nadu,” he added, accusing the newly formed TVK government of remaining in a “celebratory mode” instead of confronting deteriorating law and order conditions.
