Police said a special team, formed to nab the accused had gone to the house of a contractor in neighbouring Dharmapuri district on information that Yuvraj, president of Theeran Chinnamalai Gounder Peravai, was hiding there.
However, the contractor, Thangaraj, and his son Thanga Shezheyan, an Assistant Professor in an engineering college, alerted Yuvraj and helped him escape, they said.
With this, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to eight.
On July 2, six persons were arrested in connection with the death of 21-year old Gokulraj, whose body was found on a railway track near Pallipallayam in Namakkal district on June 27.
Gokulraj's death had triggered protests by his family and some Dalit outfits, who alleged it was an honour killing as he was in love with a Caste Hindu girl and have been demanding a CBI probe.
While initially Railway police registered a case of suspicious death, it was later changed to that of kidnap and murder on the direction of the Madras High Court.