By IANS
Kanyakumari : The main accused in an attempt to kill two government engineers building a road in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu surrendered Wednesday before a judicial magistrate here, after absconding for almost a month.
The murder attempt, caught on video and aired on national television, caused consternation among workers of Tamil Nadu’s highway department.
The incident occurred Feb 6 in Udayarvilai village of the district.
An Ambassador car tried to run over the two men when they were overseeing the demolition of parts of a temple encroaching on the road.
Anthony Xavier and Sundaram were following a court order and demolishing parts of the temple under police supervision, when the incident took place in full public view.
The temple priest, Arjunan, his son and son-in-law threatened the officials. Eyewitnesses said within minutes the priest’s son, Senthil Kumar, driving the car, tried to mow down the two officials.
Anthony Xavier identified the driver as Senthil Kumar.
Kanyakumari police arrested two people, among them the priest, in February on a charge of attempting to murder the two engineers.
Kanyakumari Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar said that Senthil Kumar was granted anticipatory bail by the Madurai bench of the Madras high court before giving himself up before the judicial magistrate’s court in the district.
The priest’s son-in-law is a lawyer and helped Senthil Kumar get bail.
He has been asked to mark his presence at the local police station every day.