Tamil Nadu: SDPI Leader’s Nephew Main Suspect In Drug Cartel Dispute Murder; Islamist Outfit Attempts Rescue

The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political arm of the radical Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI), is trying to politicise the murder of an innocent bystander by one of its leader’s relatives at Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu, in an effort to save him from the case.

The murder was a sequel to a dispute over a drug cartel, in which an attempt was made on two persons who had left the gang, headed by a person called Suresh, to set up their own operations.

The murder of the bystander, Arun Kumar, has been given a communal angle with the SDPI trying to rescue the main suspect. The Hindu Makkal Katchi, on the other hand, has alleged that Kumar was murdered since he headed the Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations in his locality.

According to a local leader, who did not want to be identified, two important members of the Suresh gang, Vicky and Kamatchi, had left the cartel to start one of their own.

In order to take revenge, Suresh set up on the two a nine-member gang, comprised of youth belonging to the Muslim and the Servai communities.

The nine-member gang was headed by “Left” Sheikh, who is the nephew of SDPI Ramanathapuram district secretary Najimuddin.

“Vicky and Kamatchi were standing at an autorickshaw stand last night when the nine-member gang led by Sheikh made an attempt on them. However, both escaped, but Kumar, who was standing there, got caught in between. Probably, the gang thought that he was part of their group and attacked him,” the local leader said.

Kumar died on way to hospital, resulting in the police promptly detaining Suresh.

A hunt was launched immediately to nab the nine members, but they went and hid in a forest-like area near the coast. Police have reportedly surrounded the area and are set to arrest them.

Since Sheikh happens to be the SDPI leader’s nephew, the party has given a communal twist to rescue him, saying he was being targeted since he belonged to a minority community.

This has backfired, with the Hindu Makkal Katchi claiming that Arun has been hacked to death because he was a key member of the local Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations and had even put up a pandal at his home.

When contacted, Ramanathapuram police told Swarajya that Kumar was killed in a 'petty dispute' between three friends. Asked how it had resulted in a murder, police said one of the three was a rowdy element.

“The rowdy element hacked two persons. One died and the other has been hospitalised,” police said. But the local leader denied a second person had been hacked or injured.

The situation, though tense, is under control with no untoward incident taking place thereafter.