The Chennai city police have arrested 11 suspects for alleged involvement in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) T.N. president K. Armstrong in Perambur.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said on Saturday that he had directed the police to speed up the investigation and bring to book those involved in the crime.
In a social media message, Mr. Stalin said he was shocked by the murder.
“The police have arrested those who were behind the murder last night. I express my condolences to his family members and partymen,” Mr. Stalin said in his message.
A large posse of police personnel posted near the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai where supporters of murdered BSP leader K. Armstrong staged a protest | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Armstrong was murdered on Friday by a gang of six unidentified persons, who were clad in food delivery executives’ uniform. They approached him on motorcycles, claiming that they had come to deliver food. Before he realised the danger, they attacked him with knives.
Following a complaint from Armstrong’s brother Veeramani, 10 special teams were constituted under Additional Commissioner, North, Asra Garg, to nab the culprits. “After analysing mobile phone signals of the suspects and the CCTV footage at the scene of occurrence, we were able to nab the [eight] suspects in three hours of the attack,” said City Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore.
The arrested men have been identified as V. Ponnai Balu, 39, and J. Santhosh, 22, of Ranipet; S.Thirumalai, 45, of Perambur; K. Manivannan, 25, of Tiruvallur; K.Thiruvenkadam, 33, of Kundrathur; D. Ramu alias Vinoth, 38, G. Arul, 33, and D. Selvaraj, 48, of Tiruninravur; J. Santhosh, 22, of Ranipet; and G. Arul, 33, and D. Selvaraj, 48, of Tiruninravur. Later, three more persons were arrested, sources said.
Armstrong’s body was handed over to his family after the post-mortem. Police sources said Balu’s brother and history-sheeter ‘Arcot’ Suresh, 48, was hacked to death by a gang at Pattinapakkam last year. During interrogation, Balu reportedly told the police that Armstrong had abetted his brother’s killers indirectly. To avenge his brother’s murder, Balu planned the attack and executed it.
Armstrong’s wife moves High Court
Armstrong’s wife has moved a petition before the Madras High Court seeking permission to bury the body within the BSP office premises in Chennai. Acting Chief Justice R. Mahadevan granted permission for an urgent hearing of the plea. He asked the lawyers concerned to approach the roster judge for a hearing on Sunday. BSP chief Mayawati will visit Chennai on Sunday to pay homage.
