In an act of apparent revenge for the 2012 murder of Devendrakula Vellalar Kootamaippu leader, Pasupathi Pandian, an unidentified gang beheaded a woman, P. Nirmala Devi (59), near Chettinayakkanpatti in Dindigul on Wednesday.
The gang members placed the woman's head in front of the slain leader's house at Nanthavanapatti, a few kilometres away from the crime scene.
Inspector General of Police (South Zone), T.S. Anbu, and other senior police officers rushed to the spot.
The police said the woman was involved in the allocation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme work in the morning when the armed men attacked her with lethal weapons.
Ms. Devi was the fifth accused in the murder of Pasupathi Pandian, who was hacked to death in his house in Dindigul in January 2012.
The woman was accused of helping the assailants by finding them a place to stay in the town.
Even though a local court has been hearing the murder case, at least five persons have been murdered in this connection on various occasions across Tamil Nadu.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Dindigul, B. Vijayakumari, and Superintendent of Police, Dindigul, V.R. Srinivasan, inspected the scene of crime. The police have recovered a motorbike, suspected to have been used for the murder.
Special teams have also been formed to nab the absconding assailants. Police picketing has been deployed in vantage points as a precautionary measure.
Thadikombu police are investigating the case.
