Gang barges into L&T office, kills accountant, injures another worker

Gang barges into L&T office, kills accountant, injures another worker

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Tenkasi  01.04.2021

: An armed gang barged into a site office of Larsen & Toubro at Subbiyapuram village near Alangulam in Tenkasi district and hacked to death an accountant of the company and injured another employee on Wednesday evening.

Police are on the lookout for the assailants. They identified the main attacker as Murugan, who owned a two-acre plot near the site where L&T recently commissioned a 100MW solar plant for Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) India Limited. L&T has condemned the murder and sought protection for its staff.

Police said Murugan had gone to the site office twice earlier in the day and asked for accountant Thiyagarajan, 51, of Korattur in Chennai. In the evening, Murugan and some relatives again turned up at the site office. When they learned Thiyagarajan was present inside, Murugan and three others barged in and hacked him to death and injured his colleague Krishnan, 40, of Chettikulam village near Alwarkurichi.

Thiyagarajan’s body was sent to the Tenkasi government hospital for autopsy while Krishnan was rushed to the Tirunelveli government medical college hospital for intensive care.

A senior police officer said a few middlemen had bought land in the area foraslow as ₹70,000to ₹80,000 per acre and then sold it to the company at more than thrice the price (₹2.5 lakh per acre). The two acres land owned by Murugan and his family was their only asset and they were not ready to sell it for the price offered by the middlemen. The officer said the middlemen purchased the land surrounding Murugan’s land, leaving him with no way to enter it.

The Tenkasi district Superintendent of Police (SP) G Suguna Singh visited the spot and conducted preliminary investigations. The Alangulam police registered a case and are on the lookout for the accused.

In a statement L&T condemned the murder and sought protection for its staff. “A precious innocent life has been lost and to be under attack from lawless elements during these uncertain times is absolutely shocking and unacceptable,” said whole time director and senior executive vice president (utilities) of the company T Madhavadas.

“We face huge difficulties when executing projects – the challenges of unforgiving terrains, harsh climatic conditions, the danger of uncontrolled lawless elements, the difficult of being miles away from home and loved ones – all to build infrastructure for the country… These are particularly difficult circumstances due to the strict COVID-19 safety protocols and at such a juncture, it is sad and shocking that we are under attack. We go out of our way to ensure the safety of our own people at our sites, but we seek the protection of the authorities and the police to keep our people safe. Such an incident should never have been allowed to happen,” he said.

Police said a few middlemen had bought land for as low as ₹70,000 per acre and sold it to the company at more than thrice the price. They wanted Murugan’s two acres, but he had refused