Tuticorin murder case accused hacked to death in Salem restaurant

SALEM: A murder case accused was hacked to death by a gang while he was having breakfast at a restaurant located a few metres away from Hastampatti police station in Salem city on Tuesday morning.

The murdered man has been identified as Madhan Kumar, 34, of Thanthai Periyar Street in Tuticorin. He had been arrested in connection with a murder in Tuticorin and granted conditional bail by a court recently. As part of the bail condition, the court had ordered him to sign at the Hastampatti police station in Salem city twice a day -- morning and evening. He was asked to sign at a police station outside Tuticorin district as the court felt that signing at a local police station could disturb law and order situation since he was a murder accused, an officer at the Hastampatti police station said.Madhan Kumar had been signing at the Hastampatti police station since July 10.On Tuesday morning, he arrived at the police station as usual. After signing, he went to a nearby restaurant to have breakfast. "A gang of unidentified people entered the restaurant and attacked Madhan Kumar with weapons. He died on the spot," said assistant commissioner of police K M Aswini. The assailants fled the scene after the murder.

On receiving the information, the Hastampatti police arrived at the scene. They sent the body to the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.The Hastampatti police registered a case and began investigations.