Allimuthu (65) opened fire from his gun after a quarrel with his son-in-law Ramasamy over drawing water from the well in Alanganatham village this afternoon.
Ramasamy sustained a bullet injury in his chest and was rushed to a local hospital and later shifted to the government hospital in neighbouring Salem, where his condition was stated to be serious, police said.
Allimuthu was absconding after the incident.
Namakkal SP S R Senthilkumar along with other police officials visited the spot, they said adding investigations were on.