Chennai: Film producer held for taxi driver's murder

Chennai: As many as 13 persons, including a Kollywood film producer, were arrested on Thursday in connection with the murder of a call taxi driver in Poonamallee. On July 2, a gang hacked Aravindan (39) of Baraniputhur, Mangadu, to death when his car was on the Poonamallee Highway. A passenger in the vehicle, Govindaraj, escaped with minor injuries.

Police said the murder was a case of mistaken identity as the real target of the accused was Govindaraj and not Aravindan. The gang was apparently told their target would be wearing a black pant and white shirt. However, on the day of the murder, Aravindan was also wearing clothes of the same colour as the gang’s target and was hacked to death when he ran out of the car.

Police arrested 13 persons including film producer Vimalraj, who also ran a real estate business, and Govindaraj’s former business partners Loganathan and Srinivasan. Four police teams were formed to crack the case. However, they could not arrive at a solid motive as the taxi driver did not seem to have any rivals. On July 5, a duo, Vadivelu of Vyasarpadi and Nagaraj of MKB Nagar, surrendered before George Town police. It was during interrogations the police learnt that Govindaraj was the actual target of the gang.

Investigations revealed that Govindaraj, a realtor, started a business of his own at Anna Nagar with a new partner, Manikandan, following a dispute with his original partners, Loganathan and Srinivasan. Govindaraj’s new venture turned out to be a success and he was able to retain his employees from the original firm. Hence, Srinivasan, his wife Kavitha and Loganathan hatched a plan to finish off Govindaraj, police said.

The trio then approached Vimalraj of Thirumullaivoyal, another enemy of Govindaraj, and handed over Rs 10 lakh to him for the task. The film producer entrusted the job of finishing off the realtor to a duo from Vadapalani, Rajan and Sadiq Basha. They passed it on to Mohan of Thirunindravur, who engaged a gang for the murder.

On the day of the murder, Mohan told the gang that Govindraj was wearing black pants and a white shirt. Near the bypass road, the gang intercepted the call taxi. Seeing the gang armed with deadly weapons, driver Aravindan, who was also wearing black pants and a white shirt, got out of the car and took to his heels. The gang, mistaking him to be Govindaraj, pounced on him and hacked him to death.