PMKs deputy general secretary hacked to death

MADURAI: A State-level PMK functionary was hacked to death by a gang here on Tuesday. According to police sources, M Illanchezhiyan (42), State deputy general secretary of the PMK, who was also the party candidate for the Assembly election from Sholavandan constituency, was on his way back home after dropping his daughters—Tamil Prabha, a Class VII student in a private school and Sangamitra, an LKG student in another private school—at their respective school vehicle pickup points at 7 am on a moped.A resident of Velmurugan Nagar, he was crossing Vanamamalai Nagar II Main Road when an SUV hit his vehicle from behind.  As he fell, a gang alighted from the SUV and hacked the PMK functionary with weapons. Illanchezhiyan collapsed on the spot, while the gang fled.  Deputy Commissioner of Police T Senthil Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of Police Ganesan and other officials rushed to the spot and conducted a preliminary probe. The body was sent to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) for postmortem.Later, one of the accused, Kasivishwanathan, surrendered at the S S Colony police station and claimed that he had killed Illanchezhiyan due to previous enmity.Kasivishwanathan hails from Avaniyapuram, where Illanchezhiyan lived earlier.  PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss paid a visit to the GRH and consoled the family of the deceased.  Speaking to reporters, the former Union minister condemned the brutal act and sought the arrest of the accused. Ramadoss also asked for adequate police protection for the victim’s family.Illanchezhiyan had served as the district secretary of the PMK and was later made the party’s cadre wing organiser. He soon climbed up the ladder and rose to the position of the deputy general secretary. However, he was later sidelined after a country bomb blast in his farm, in which two persons were injured.  Illanchezhiyan was given the same post again prior to the recent Assembly polls when he was serving as a councillor in Avaniyapuram Municipality between 2006 and 2011.He is survived by wife Krishnaveni, who was a councillor during the previous term and another daughter Muthumeena, a Class XI student in a residential school.

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