Kalimuthu, a 40-year-old farmer from Moolachi village, and his 5-year-old son Jayaraj were killed on June 27, 2026, near Kallidaikurichi in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district. A car rammed the motorcycle they were riding, and an armed gang then hacked Kalimuthu to death. His severed head was later found abandoned on a road five kilometres from the scene, according to police cited by ETV Bharat on July 3, 2026.
Kalimuthu was riding with both his sons, Jayaraj and 15-year-old Chinnadurai, when the attackers’ car struck their bike near Madhudaiyarkulam. All three fell to the ground. Jayaraj died at the scene. Chinnadurai survived with fractures and was hospitalised in Ambasamudram.
“We were returning home when a car and eight motorcycles suddenly intercepted us. The speeding car rammed our bike. Around 25 people got down and attacked us with deadly weapons,” Chinnadurai said, according to ETV Bharat on July 3, 2026.
A relative of Kalimuthu said the gang carried the severed head through Moolachi village and displayed it to local women, telling them the killing had avenged a 2012 murder. Frightened residents reportedly locked themselves inside their homes, according to the same account reported by ETV Bharat.
The killing is the latest chapter in a rivalry between two related families from Moolachi that dates back to a 2006 or 2007 dispute over a public water tap. The feud has claimed nine lives over two decades, according to police cited by the Daily Thanthi newspaper and DT Next on July 4, 2026.
In 2012, Perumal Pandian, the head of the rival family, was himself murdered, his head abandoned in the same Karambai area. Tensions resurfaced in 2025 over a dispute involving a drinking-water pipeline. Kalimuthu, who had been living outside the village, had returned to Moolachi only two months before his death. Investigators believe members of Perumal Pandian’s family had been waiting for an opportunity to avenge his killing, according to ETV Bharat.
Veeravanallur police have registered a case against 11 suspects and formed several special teams to trace those still at large. Eight people had been arrested as of July 6, 2026, according to Nakkheeran. The eighth, 29-year-old Krishnan, broke his arm falling while trying to flee police before his arrest.
The victims’ family has refused to accept the bodies until the remaining suspects are arrested, according to DT Next.
