The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Hindu Makkal Katchi leader murdered

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 23, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Hindu Makkal Katchi leader murdered

Staff Reporter

Police had warned victim of possible attack

MADURAI: Armed assailants hacked to death the Hindu Makkal Katchi State vice-president and Hanuman Sena founder-president, R. Kalidas, here on Tuesday.

The two-member gang assaulted the 55-year-old man in broad daylight on the busy Munichalai Road. Many shopkeepers and loadmen watched the murder in horror and ran helter-skelter. The incident sparked off tension in the city following which heavy police bandobust has been posted at sensitive points.

According to police sources, Kalidas walked into an iron merchant's shop at around 1 p.m. seeking funds for the forthcoming Vinayaka Chathurti celebrations. While he was engaged in a conversation, two persons entered the shop. On seeing them, Kalidas raised an alarm and tried to escape. However, the duo pulled out deadly weapons and hacked him indiscriminately. He suffered multiple cut injuries and died on the spot.

The assailants ran into Ismailpuram and crossed the Vaigai river to make good their escape. A sniffer dog made its way till the riverbed where the police seized bloodstained weapons used to commit the offence. However, the description of the suspects, as explained by some eyewitnesses, did not lead to any conclusion.

Warning

Kalidas, who was heading the breakaway faction of the Hindu Munnani, was "adequately" warned by the police to "exercise restraint while addressing public meetings." Following specific intelligence information that there was a threat to his life, police alerted him "not to make derogatory remarks against any religion." Besides organising Vinayaka Chathurti processions, Kalidas was also active in propagating the `Hindu Makkal Katchi' policies among the public, police sources said.

"We strongly suspect the role of fundamentalists in the murder. The accused did not speak to him or raise any slogans. But investigators are looking into all angles," a senior police official said.

Tight police security was clamped in the locality and the body was shifted to the Government Rajaji Hospital for post-mortem. The Commissioner of Police, Vijay Kumar, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), N. Rajendran, visited the scene of crime. "We are still clueless. Special teams have been formed to nab the culprits," Mr. Vijay Kumar told The Hindu .

The murder of Kalidas comes a fortnight after the killing of the Arasaramaram Pillayar temple priest in the Vilakkuthoon police station limits. But police see no connection between the two murders.

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