The Tiruppur District Collector has ordered the invocation of the Goondas Act against the three prime accused in the murder of disability rights activist and lawyer L Muruganantham, who was brutally hacked to death in Dharapuram on July 29 following a property dispute with his paternal uncle.
Muruganantham, a Madras High Court lawyer widely known for championing disability rights and remembered for the “Muruganantham Doctrine” on the prison rights of persons with disabilities, was killed allegedly after raising concerns over illegal construction and safety violations at Thenmalar Matriculation Higher Secondary School, owned by his uncle R Dhandapani.
According to investigators, Dhandapani allegedly hired contract killers after Muruganantham petitioned the High Court, which ordered a resurvey of the school premises adjoining his own land. On the day of the resurvey, Muruganantham was ambushed and hacked to death by assailants hiding inside a school bus.
Along with Dhandapani, his associate N Nattudurai and aide S Dakshinamoorthy have now been booked under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Forest Offenders, Sand Offenders, Slum-Grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1982, popularly known as the Goondas Act, which is used against habitual or dangerous offenders.
The murder sparked allegations of administrative collusion and police inaction. Though Dhandapani initially surrendered along with Nattudurai and four others claiming to be the killers, eyewitness testimony suggested the real attackers were still at large, leading to further arrests. Seventeen people have since been taken into custody, all of whom are lodged in Coimbatore Central Prison.