M. Shanmugavel (57), a Special Sub Inspector (SSI) with the Tamil Nadu police, was brutally slashed to death while on patrol in Gudimangalam, Tiruppur district, on Tuesday night. The deadly attack happened when he was trying to calm down a fight between a man and his two sons.
West Zone Inspector General of Police (IGP) T. Senthil Kumar said that Shanmugavel and Constable Azhaguraja were on patrol duty about 11 p.m. when they got a call of a fight between drunk people at a private farm near Udumalpet. The officers went to the site to stop the family fight.
When the officers got there, they tried to calm the people down. But the SSI was hit with a sickle, and the constable was chased away. Early investigations show that Manigandan is likely responsible for the serious injuries that caused the SSI’s death. However, his brother Thangapandian and their father Moorthy were also involved in the attack and in getting rid of the constable.
Shanmugavel died right away, but Constable Azhaguraja was able to get away without getting hurt. Before running away, the criminals also broke the police jeep. The Gudimangalam police have opened a case and are looking into it further.
Six special police teams have been put together to find Moorthy and his two sons and arrest them in response to the terrible crime. The IGP says that Moorthy has two criminal cases against him that are still open, and each of his sons has four.
Political leaders have reacted strongly to the death of the SSI. M.K. Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, said he was shocked and called the officer’s death “an irreparable loss to the Tamil Nadu Police and his family.” He told the police to quickly catch the people who did it and said that Shanmugavel’s family would get ₹1 crore in compensation.
C. Mahendran, an AIADMK lawmaker and owner of the farm where the murder took place, said that his manager takes care of the property and that he didn’t know about the murder. He sent his sympathies to the family and asked the government to give Shanmugavel’s kid a job.
Edappadi K. Palaniswami, the General Secretary of the AIADMK, also spoke out against the event and asked what was going on with law and order in Tamil Nadu. He posted on social media to say that police officers weren’t safe and that the Chief Minister was employing “diversion tactics.” He asked for a full inquiry and appropriate action to be taken against those responsible.
T.T.V. Dinakaran, the General Secretary of AMMK, said the same thing, asking how a Chief Minister who can’t safeguard a police officer can protect the public.