Accused in BSP leader’s murder shot dead: Police
The Chennai police on Sunday gunned down a key accused in the murder of BSP Tamil Nadu unit chief K Armstrong after he allegedly attacked a policeman and attempted to flee custody, police said.
The Chennai police on Sunday gunned down a key accused in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tamil Nadu unit chief K Armstrong after he allegedly attacked a policeman and attempted to flee custody, police said.
According to the police, K Thiruvengadam (33), who is one of the 11 accused arrested in the Armstrong murder case, was taken by sleuths to his residence in Manali area around 7am on Sunday to seize the weapons used in the murder of the BSP leader.
“On the way back, he asked us to stop for nature’s call and when the police vehicle stopped near Retteri lake, he pushed away the policemen on duty and tried to escape,” the Chennai police said in a statement.
Policemen gave him a chase and when a sub-inspector tried to capture him, Thiruvengadam allegedly pulled out a hidden gun and tried to open fire. “The policemen immediately fired at him in self-defence causing him injuries,” a senior police officer said, adding the accused was rushed to a government hospital where he was declared dead.
The police, however, did not divulge information on how the accused got hold of a gun. A first information report (FIR) has been registered and a magisterial inquiry has been ordered, a senior officer said.
On July 5, Armstrong was hacked to death by a gang near his residence at Perambur in Chennai. Following the murder, the police arrested 11 suspects and have been questioning them in custody for the last five days. The police suspect the involvement of associates of gangster Arcot Suresh, who was murdered in August last year, in the BSP state chief’s killing.
Meanwhile, a CCTV footage of Armstrong’s murder surfaced on social media on Sunday. The two-and-a-half-minute-long video purportedly shows some men arriving one after another at a construction site in Perambur. Two of them dressed as food delivery agents in red uniforms approach Armstrong, who is seen in the video supervising the construction. The men in red uniform are seen stabbing the BSP leader repeatedly before fleeing.
HT has seen the footage but it cannot independently verify the veracity of the same.
Opposition parties, who have been attacking the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government over the law-and-order situation, raised suspicion over the encounter killing, claiming it appeared to be a cover act by the ruling party to protect the real culprits in the Armstrong murder case.
“While taking an accused of a murder case to a spot, my legal advisors tell me that he must be handcuffed,” leader of opposition in the assembly and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami told reporters. “This (police encounter) has only raised more doubts given that those related to Armstrong believe that the real perpetrators have not been caught.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief K Annamalai in a post on X said: “It seems that there is an attempt to cover up the truth.” He also urged the DMK government to conduct a fair and swift investigation into the Armstrong murder case.
Senior DMK leader and minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Sekar Babu said the accused in the BSP leader’s murder will be punished. “The case is under investigation so it won’t be right to comment but we assure that this government will bring the perpetrators to justice,” Babu said. “Our police will not allow the accused to escape.”