17-year-old boy murdered near Madurai temple; "Criminals have free pass," says BJP's Annamalai

According to the Madurai City Police, the deceased minor has been identified as Kubendran. Preliminary investigations indicate that the horrific killing was the fallout of an old enmity, specifically stemming from a clash that broke out during the recently concluded Chithirai festival.

A 17-year-old boy was brutally murdered by a five-member gang in the car parking area of the iconic Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai, police said on Monday. According to the Madurai City Police, the deceased minor has been identified as Kubendran. Preliminary investigations indicate that the killing was the fallout of an old enmity, specifically stemming from a clash that broke out during the recently concluded Chithirai festival.

Reacting to the incident, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief K Annamalai launched a scathing attack on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's newly formed Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government over the law and order situation. Sharing a video of the crime scene on the social media platform X, Annamalai wrote, "What you see in this video is the blood stains of a young boy who was brutally murdered by a gang of five near the Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai. Drug peddlers, Sexual assaulters, and murderers have a free pass in Tamil Nadu."

The BJP leader further accused the state police force of failing to maintain vigilance and criticised the new administration for failing to handle governance responsibly. "The State police seem to have learnt no lessons from the past, & the new TVK govt is yet to emerge from its celebratory mode and confront the grim realities unfolding on the ground," Annamalai added.

This comes at a time when the Chief Minister simultaneously struggles to contain severe public anger over the recent abduction and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Coimbatore, who was suspected of being sexually assaulted before being strangled to death and dumped near a pond. While CM Vijay has expressed "immense pain and shock" over the Coimbatore case, asserting that "such inhuman and unforgivable criminal acts can never be tolerated," the back-to-back tragedies have put his young administration under immense pressure.

In the Coimbatore case, the Sulur police have arrested two accused, identified as Karthick and Mohanraj, amid highway protests by grieving relatives demanding capital punishment. Earlier, IGP Bharati said in a press conference that the case is being altered to include the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, due to the assault of a minor.

She elaborated on the case, saying that the girl went missing on May 21 (Thursday) at around 5 PM. The police reached the spot immediately after receiving the information and registered a case regarding the missing child. "On 21 May at about 8:30 pm, information was received through police helpline 100 that a 10-year-old girl who was playing outside her house had gone missing at about 5 pm in the evening. The police personnel rushed to the spot, conducted enquiries, received the complaint and registered a case regarding the missing child on the same night at about 10 pm," she said. (ANI)