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The Dharapuram police on Wednesday, September 10, arrested Karthik, son of prime accused Dhandapani, in connection with the murder of lawyer and disability rights activist Muruganantham. Karthik had been absconding abroad, and a lookout notice was issued against him soon after the crime.
Muruganantham, a lawyer practicing at the Madras High Court, was brutally hacked to death on July 29 in Dharapuram. He had raised concerns about illegal construction and safety violations at Thenmalar Matriculation Higher Secondary School, owned by Dhandapani, his paternal uncle who was working as a school principal.
After Muruganantham petitioned the High Court, which ordered a resurvey of the school premises adjacent to his land, Dhandapani allegedly hired contract killers. On the day of the resurvey, Muruganantham was ambushed and hacked to death by assailants hiding inside a school bus.
According to reports, investigations revealed that Karthik had arranged to transfer money to the killers nearly ten days before the murder. Soon after, he left for Malaysia claiming he was seeking cancer treatment, prompting police to issue a lookout notice.
On the afternoon of September 10, a special police team arrested him at Trichy International Airport upon his arrival and later took him to Dharapuram police station for interrogation.
So far, 18 people, including Dhandapani and Karthik, have been arrested in the case. Three, including Dhandapani, have been booked under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act, 1982 (commonly known as the Goondas Act). All are currently lodged in Coimbatore Central Prison.
Goondas Act is a stringent one that allows authorities to do preventive detention of habitual offenders, including murder accused, immoral traffic offenders, sexual offenders and other such offenders to prevent their dangerous activities that could be detrimental to public order. Within three weeks, the case has to be presented to an Advisory Board. The accused cannot get a bail till the detention order is cancelled by a court.