Twelve heavily armed members of a mercenary group were apprehended by the people and handed over to the police. According to the press statement from the Anamalai police, the gang had tried to intervene in a land dispute near Pollachi.

One Shanmugam Chettiar of Nanjegoundenpudur, Anamalai, near Pollachi, had seven daughters and five sons. About 10 years ago, he had sold his land of 11 acres to one Devanasamy of the same village. After Shanmugam’s death, 31 of his family members, including children and grandchildren, began claiming a share in the property. They pitched tents on the land and refused to vacate. Devanasamy filed a complaint of illegal occupation with Anamalai police on August 14. None has been arrested so far because the police wanted to settle the issue through negotiation.

It was in these circumstances that a mercenary group entered the village yesterday, and ended up in an argument with the local villagers, which soon became a scuffle. The villagers rounded up the mercenary gang and handed them over to Anamalai police. Weapons, including butcher knives and machetes, and a car were recovered from the gang.

The arrested include Rajan (38) of Kattupillaiyar Kovil, Ramakrishnan (31) of Ellis Nagar, Balu (29) and Moorthy (30) of Villapuram, Balamurugan (28) and Manimaran (21) of Sunnambukaalvai, Nagaraja Prabhu (27) of Housing Unit (all from Madurai district), Pandi (21) of Kariapatti (Virudhunagar district), Ravi (29) of Nilakottai (Dindigul distict), and Muthu Murugan (35), Jeyaprabhu (32) and Naganandan (32) of Nagaratharkurichi (all from Ramanathapuram district).

Two members of gang, Rajan and Ramakrishnan, who sustained serious injuries during the scuffle, were admitted to the Government Hospital, Vettaikaranpudur. Based on their complaint, a case has been registered against the villagers. A few of the villagers, including Selvi, Anandan, and Manikandan have sustained injuries.

On interrogation of the arrested persons, the police had found that the gang had 25 members. Search is on for the missing members.