Four members of a family were allegedly hacked to death at Palladam in Tiruppur district on Sunday. The police are on the lookout for the unidentified assailants, official sources said.
According to the police, Senthilkumar, 47, who owned a rice shop and a land close to it, found a group of people consuming alcohol on his land.
When he asked them to leave, one of them reportedly attacked him with a sickle.
When Senthilkumar’s family members – Mohanraj, Rathinambal and Pushpavathi – went to his rescue, they, too, were hacked by the gang. By the time other members of the public arrived at the spot, the gang had absconded and the four victims had died.
A police team, led by Palladam Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Sowmiya, is collecting details of the deceased and the gang.
“An investigation is on. CCTV footage is being checked. We are yet to ascertain how many members the gang had,” the police said.
“Kutti, alias Venkatesan, had worked in Senthilkumar’s rice shop a few years ago. It is said that a gang led by Kutti was consuming alcohol on Senthilkumar’s land. The gang is suspected to have killed Senthilkumar and his family,” they added.