Coimbatore:
The Coimbatore driver who had allegedly kidnapped and killed two young siblings, Miskin and Rithik, was shot dead by the police near the city today.
The police say Mohanraj snatched a revolver and opened fire, while trying to escape. He was being taken to the scene of the crime, early in the morning for a reconstruction. Two police sub-inspectors sustained bullet injuries in the encounter. Mohanraj was in police custody for interrogation.
"He died when we opened fire in self defence. Both Sub Inspectors with bullet injuries are in the ICU," said Dr Sylendra Babu, Commisioner of Police, Coimbatore.
Tamil Nadu has earned the dubious distinction of turning trigger happy. This is the 30th encounter killing, since the DMK government took over four years ago.
Mohanraj used to drive a private van that took seven-year-old Rithik and his 10-year-old sister to school until two months ago.
The sister's body was found in a river outside Coimbatore. Rithik's body was later found dumped along with his sister's. The bodies were cremated on October 31.
The girl's post-mortem report revealed that she had also been sexually assaulted.
The driver had confessed to kidnapping the children for ransom to repay a loan. But the police say he couldn't find a phone booth to call the children's family. He got nervous and threw the children into the water. He was helped by a friend who was also arrested later.
The gruesome crime led to demands for capital punishment. Mohanraj was even attacked by a crowd when he was being taken to court.
Activists say his killing could be a fake encounter to assuage public anger and pre-empt the opposition AIADMK's plan to make it an issue in the assembly.
"The police had taken him for re-construction early in the morning around 5: 30 am. They could have taken during the day. And if he had really opened fire at the police why did they not restrain him in many ways than killing him?" questioned Geeta Ramaseshan, Activist.
Given that the killings caused so much anger, public sentiment may be in favour of the police, but they could still face tough questions in the court of law.