Police encounter - Double murder accused gets killed

Barely days after the kidnap and murder of two children had rocked the state, the main accused, a van driver, was shot dead by the police in Coimbatore after he allegedly tried to escape from custody.


The encounter happened in the early hours of Tuesday.


Mohanraj, who had temporarily worked as a van driver transporting children to school, was arrested for kidnapping and subsequently murdering 10-year-old Muskan and her younger brother Ritish (7), children of a trader in Coimbatore. His accomplice Manoharan, a tractor driver, was also arrested.


As the case is going on, the police sought and received in custody the duo for further questioning on Monday. This morning at around 5:30 am, while they were taking him from Chettikulam police station to the murder spot as part of the investigation, Mohanraj allegedly snatched the service revolver from a sub-inspector who was part of the team and shot two police men in a bid to escape custody.


Two police personnel, sub-inspectors Jyothi and Muthumalai were injured in the firing.


However, the escape was short-lived as another inspector in the party, Annadurai fired at Mohanraj using his revolver killing him on the spot.


On October 29, Mohanraj tricked the children and their grandmother who had accompanied them to the bus stop, claiming that he was asked to pick up the school students in the absence of the regular person. As he had worked as school driver earlier, they did not find anything amiss.


But not finding the children at the regular spot, the real driver contacted the children's father Ranjit Kumar, a textile merchant in the city. Being outstation, he contacted his wife Sangeeta to check.


Finding their plan go awry, the driver duo allegedly murdered the children by pushing them into a water canal near Coimbatore, according to police. Their bodies were later fished out from the waterway. Initial reports suggest that the girl child was sexually-assaulted before the murder.


The killings had created an instant outrage among the society, with almost all members seeking nothing less than death penalty for the accused – but by way of legal, judicial retribution and not extra-judicial 'encounter'. Even though the western city has had its share of troubles over the past, this is the first such killing in Coimbatore.