Man killed in eatery over daughter’s love affair

CHENNAI: A leader of a Dalit outfit was hacked to death at an eatery at Old Perungalathur on Friday morning. The deceased, D. Raja, 40, who was into real estate business, had come out of jail recently after he allegedly assaulted the son of a policeman, who had been removed from service, for having a love affair with his daughter.

Within hours, the police arrested an ex-cop Gajendran, 47, and six others for killing Raja. Raja was having breakfast around 9.40 am when four men on two bikes entered the eatery located on Mudichur Road and downed the shutters.

“They were dressed in shirts and trousers. The killers pulled out sickles and started attacking Raja while other customers witnessed the murder in a state of shock. Because the shutters were closed, Raja could not escape.  After killing him, the gang opened the shutters and sped away on their two wheelers,” the police said.

“Gajendran, who is into real estate business after he was removed from police, was furious over Raja for attacking his son Lokesh last year. Lokesh was assaulted and stabbed in June, 2014 for falling in love with Raja’s daughter, a nursing student. Gajendran allegedly hired a murder accused named Guna alias Guansekaran, to execute the murder. Guna had been arrested in a murder case five years ago. Apart from Gajendran and Guna, five others were also arrested for Raja’s murder,” police said.