School Student Murder Case | Thoothukudi Police Arrest 30-year-old Accused

Thoothukudi: Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police Madan has explained the circumstances leading to the arrest of an individual named Muniswaran in connection with the murder case of a school student in Vilathikulam.

On March 11, 2026, a 17-year-old Class 12 student was found dead in an open field near Vilathikulam. The student's parents and relatives had been engaged in a continuous protest for over a week, vowing not to accept the body until appropriate action was taken against those responsible for this heinous incident, which had shaken Tamil Nadu.

The Thoothukudi District Police Department had constituted 10 special teams to identify the perpetrators of this crime. These special police teams had been conducting an intensive search for those who committed the offence. In a major breakthrough in this case—which had posed a significant challenge to the police—an individual named Dharma Muniswaran (30), hailing from Sayalkudi, was arrested on Thursday.

Madan met with members of the press to provide details regarding Muniswaran's arrest and the current status of the case. He stated, "Immediately upon learning of the murder of a Class 12 student near Vilathikulam, 10 special teams were constituted, and a force of over 15 police personnel—led by 6 Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs)—was deployed to conduct an intensive investigation. The Director General of Police (DGP) has been continuously monitoring this case right from its inception."

"Since the location where the student was murdered is a forested area, there were no CCTV camera facilities available there. Consequently, footage from 98 CCTV cameras located in the surrounding vicinity was thoroughly analysed. Furthermore, the investigation was accelerated based on mobile phone call records, information provided by local residents, and other forensic evidence," he said.

Interrogation of 800 Men

"Specifically, we conducted inquiries regarding the whereabouts of approximately 800 men residing in Vedanatham village at the time the incident occurred. We also interrogated 461 individuals with criminal backgrounds; those confirmed to have no involvement in the incident were subsequently released. Among them, initial suspicions centred on just five individuals who had been detained early in the investigation. However, as there was a lack of concrete evidence against them, no legal action was initiated against them," the top police official said.

"It was against this backdrop—and based on CCTV footage, mobile phone signal analysis, and forensic evidence—that one individual was arrested. This arrest was not carried out under any external pressure; it was executed solely and entirely on the basis of scientific evidence," the SP stated.

"In this case, every member of the police force—from constables to inspectors—has worked with immense dedication. Blood samples collected from the arrested individual have been sent for DNA analysis. The results of this analysis are expected to serve as crucial evidence in the case," he said.

Concurrently, cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act have been registered against six individuals who shared photographs of the victim on social media platforms.

"An intensive investigation regarding this case is currently underway. With the aim of preventing such incidents in the future, the public has been advised to install CCTV cameras in all villages, and work towards this objective is already in progress," he said.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that Dharma Muneeswaran was previously arrested in 2020 in connection with a case near Ettayapuram, in which he sexually assaulted and murdered a 65-year-old elderly woman who had gone to an agricultural field. After a two-year period during which the perpetrator in this murder case remained unidentified, the police finally arrested Muneeswaran in 2022. It is noteworthy that during the interrogation, he confessed to sexually assaulting the elderly woman and stealing her jewellery.

On March 10, in Vedanatham village of Thoothukudi district, a 12th-grade schoolgirl went into a wooded area to relieve herself. The student left her home around 5:30 PM; when she failed to return even after a considerable amount of time had passed, her father grew suspicious and began searching for her in the neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, on the evening of March 11, the student's body was recovered from the wooded area, bearing injuries to her face and body. The post-mortem examination revealed that she had sustained an injury to the back of her head and a fracture to her neck bone, indicating that she had been murdered by strangulation.

Unable to locate his daughter despite searching everywhere, the distraught father went to the Kulathur Police Station to file a complaint. However, the police advised him to file the complaint at the Vilathikulam All-Women Police Station instead. Accordingly, the student's parents filed a complaint at the Vilathikulam All-Women Police Station.

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