The Coimbatore District (Rural) Police on Thursday recorded the arrest of the three accused men in the Coimbatore gang-rape case on charge of murdering a herder near Kovilpalayam.
The three accused, T. Karuppasamy alias Satheesh, 30, his brother T. Kaleeswaran, alias Karthik, 21, and their relative M. Guna, alias Thavasi, 20, of Madurai district, were in the custody of the district police for one day from Wednesday evening.
The police interrogated them in connection with the murder of M. Devaraj, 55, a herder from Kurumbapalayam near Muthugoundenpudur in Coimbatore district. He was found dead in a deserted area at Serayampalayam in Kovilpalayam station limits on November 6, four days after he went missing.
The police said the gang-rape case accused confessed to have fatally assaulted the herder on a vacant land at Serayampalayam on November 2, several hours before gang-raping a 20-year-old college student on a vacant land near Coimbatore airport.
As per the statements of the accused, Devaraj came to the deserted area at Serayampalayam with a bottle of liquor on November 2 when they were consuming liquor at a spot there. Devaraj reportedly questioned them for sitting there, leading to an altercation. The trio assaulted him and fled the spot. He died later.
