A retired sub-inspector of police was murdered in broad daylight in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli by a four-member gang on Tuesday, March 18. The victim Zakhir Hussain Bijli was an activist who was fighting legal cases against encroachment of Waqf land in the town, and had been alleging that he was receiving death threats from people involved in one case. Zakhir was returning home on his bike after offering Fajr (morning prayers) on Tuesday when he was waylaid by a four-member armed gang and was hacked to death, the police said. Hours after the murder, two men surrendered at the Nellai court, and the police said they are on the lookout for at least two others.
In a video uploaded to Facebook sometime this year, Zakhir, who was part of late TN Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s security detail, had alleged that the police was hand-in-glove with the men sending him threats, and that the department was refusing to take proper action. Zakhir’s murder has raised questions about whether the police ignored threats to his life. His family has refused to accept the body until action is taken against those responsible for his murder.
Zakhir was one of the administrators of Murtim Zarkhan Dargha, and was a Mutawalli (a person in charge of managing a Waqf property) of a property in Tirunelveli town. For the past year, Zakhir had been fighting a legal case against a couple – Thoufiq and Noorunisa – accusing them of encroaching 36 cents of Waqf land. Zakhir alleged that the couple had falsified documents to claim they owned the land, and the case is pending in the Waqf tribunal.
Following his murder, the video he had uploaded to Facebook is being shared widely on social media channels. In the video, Zakhir said that he lodged a complaint with the police about the death threats he had been receiving on December 9, 2024, and added that there was no investigation done in the case despite CCTV evidence. He pointed to Thoufiq as the source of these death threats. “It's not just one or two people, some 20-30 people are involved in giving death threats to me,” Zakhir said in his video, and added, “Both the Tirunelveli town inspector Gopalakrishnan and sub-inspector Senthil Kumar are responsible for encouraging Thoufiq and his group to murder me.” Zakhir further alleged that while he had filed his complaint in December, according to a Community Service Register (CSR) copy he had received on February 24, 2025, the police claimed he had only filed the case on February 14, 2025; he further alleged that the case was recorded as a civil dispute so the police could justify not taking action.
Zakhir's family has named Thoufiq and Noorunisa in their complaint to the police. Speaking to TNM, Zakhir’s brother-in-law Jainul Abdeen said that the police refused to accept Zakhir’s complaints alleging threat to his life. However when Thoufiq – a Dalit man who converted in Islam some years ago – gave a complaint of encroachment against Zakhir, the police charged the latter under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he alleged. “He fought the case in the court and got bail. What Thoufiq claimed was encroachment was actually land that Zakhir had rented out to raise funds for the Waqf,” Jainul Abdeen said.
The family staged a protest and accused the police of failing to protect Zakhir Hussain despite lodging several complaints over the last two months. Zakhir’s daughter told the media that the Assistant Commissioner Ajay Kumar, Inspector Gopalakrishnan and Sub-Inspector Senthil Kumar of Tirunelveli town were hand in glove with the accused and refused to entertain the complaints lodged by her father. “We will not receive the body, and have no faith in the police,” she said.
The Tirunelveli police however claim that the land in question was patta land (private, registered land) and that they had no knowledge of threats against Zakhir. Speaking to TNM, Santhosh Hadimani, commissioner of Tirunelveli town, said, “We did not receive any complaints from Zakhir Hussain alleging threats to his life. I personally went to the police station and verified the details.”
The Tirunelveli Town police has formed special teams to nab the absconding accused in the case.
Nellai Murder, Tirunelveli Murder, Crime News, Tamil Nadu News, Current News, Current Affairs