Chennai: Tamil Nadu President of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Armstrong, was hacked to death by six bike-borne men near his house in Perambur in Chennai on the evening of 5 July. Hours after the murder, Greater Chennai police have arrested eight persons in connection with the case and are probing the matter.
At around 7 pm Friday, Armstrong was speaking to his party functionaries near his house in the Sembium area in Perambalur, when six men on bikes attacked him with “long, sharp objects” and fled the spot, the police say.
An eye witness, who was with Armstrong at the time, said that a tall man with a beard first approached Armstrong and tried to attack. “They pushed me aside and even before I could shout for help and save my anna (Armstrong), they attacked him and fled,” the eye-witness, a BSP functionary, told the media on 5 July night.
Armstrong was immediately rushed to a private hospital, but was declared as ‘brought dead’. Greater Chennai police officials said that this could be a “revenge murder” in retaliation for the killing of notorious gangster Arcot Suresh. Arcot Suresh was killed in August 2023, allegedly by henchmen from Tirunelveli, over a gang rivalry.
Speaking to the media, Additional Commissioner of Police Asra Garg said that they have arrested eight persons in connection with the murder. “As many as 10 special teams have been formed. Preliminary investigations are on. After inquiring with the suspects, we will get more details on the motive behind the murder,” he told the media in the wee hours of 6 July.
The arrested persons have been identified as Ponnai V. Baalu (39), Arcot Suresh’s younger brother, D. Ramu (38), K. Tiruvengatam (33), S. Thirumalai (45), D. Selvaraj (48), G. Arul (33), K. Manivannan (25) and J. Santhosh (22). All arrested are said to be relatives and accomplices of Arcot Suresh.
Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have hit out at the ruling DMK government in the state over the law-and-order situation.
Expressing shock and condolence over the death of Armstrong, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami said that there is no fear of law or the police in the state. “If the leader of a national party is murdered, what do I even say about the law-and-order situation in the state,” he said in a statement.
All the political parties in the state including Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, condemned the incident and demanded the arrest of all the accused involved in the murder.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin Saturday said that the murder of Armstrong was “shocking” and extended his condolences to the BSP leader’s family, relatives and friends. He also said that the police have arrested those involved in the murder overnight. “I have ordered police officers to conduct the case expeditiously,” he said in a post on X.
BSP chief Mayawati, in a post on X, said that the gruesome killing of Armstrong outside his house is highly deplorable and condemnable. “An advocate by profession, he was known as a strong Dalit voice in the state. The state must punish the guilty,” she wrote.
A lawyer, Armstrong was elected to the Chennai Corporation in 2006. A year later, he was appointed as the president of BSP’s Tamil Nadu unit. In the 2011 assembly election, he contested against Stalin in Kolathur constituency. Though BSP does not have much of a political presence in Tamil Nadu, Armstrong was a well-known Dalit voice in North Chennai for at least three decades.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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