Panchayat president held on attempt-to-murder charges

CHENNAI: The panchayat president of Ulundhai village in Kadambathur union in Tiruvallur district, MK Ramesh was arrested by the Tiruvallur district police on charges of attempt to murder, criminal intimidation among others for allegedly assaulting the executive of a private firm that is located within the panchayat.

Ramesh was arrested by the Mappedu police based on a complaint from K Chinnamuniyandi, an HR manager at a private engineering firm in Mappedu.

According to Chinnamuniyandi, his firm had received a notice from Ulundai village panchayat office in January and he had visited the panchayat office on January 25 along with the plant head to submit a reply to the notice when the incident happened.

Ramesh who was in the office had questioned the executives about their visit and when they told him about the reason for coming, asked them why they had not sorted out the issue with the owner of the adjacent land where there is an alleged dispute about right of way.

Ramesh had used abusive language and when the HR executive asked him to not use such language, Ramesh allegedly sprung off his chair and slapped Chinnamuniyandi. The Panchayat president further allegedly strangled the HR executive, who was eventually rescued by the plant head.

After getting treatment at a hospital for his injuries, Chinnamuniyandi filed a complaint at Mappedu Police Station after which the Police registered a case and arrested the Panchayat president.

Police sources said that the Ulundai is one of the prosperous panchayats in Kadambathur union, having several industrial units and Ramesh has similar allegations of intervening in disputes and property deals within the panchayat.

Meanwhile in September 2023, Ramesh was booked by the Mappedu police for allegedly threatening a landowner on behalf of a builder after both of them had entered into an agreement.