Murder, revenge, and encounter killings are a running theme in the fast-spreading gangster culture in Tamil Nadu.
However, it took the murder of a high-profile political leader to turn the focus on the gang wars in Tamil Nadu.
The lynching of K Armstrong, the BSP Tamil Nadu president on Friday in north Chennai has shaken the state and embarrassed the ruling DMK, especially when the Home portfolio is with the Chief Minister MK Stalin.
Armstrong’s murder follows the murder of AIADMK functionary Shanmugham in Salem on Thursday and of a Congress functionary in Tirunelveli a month ago.
He first became a councillor in 2006, and in 2007 he became the state BSP president.
Armstrong was also known to be a history-sheeter with seven criminal cases against him, which were closed after his acquittal in courts.
Murder, revenge, and encounter killings are a running theme in the fast-spreading gangster culture in Tamil Nadu. However, it took the murder of a high-profile political leader to turn the focus on the gang wars in Tamil Nadu.
The lynching of K Armstrong, the BSP Tamil Nadu president on Friday in north Chennai has shaken the state and embarrassed the ruling DMK, especially when the Home portfolio is with the Chief Minister MK Stalin. The murder of the Dalit leader has even upset the DMK allies, the VCK, whose leader Thol Thirumavallavan, along with TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai have asked the police to arrest the real culprits.
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Eight persons were arrested on Saturday, but BSP supporters claim that they were not the ones seen in the CCTV footage. BSP chief Mayawati has demanded a CBI investigation into the murder. Armstrong’s murder follows the murder of AIADMK functionary Shanmugham in Salem on Thursday and of a Congress functionary in Tirunelveli a month ago.
Armstrong (47) practised as a lawyer in Chennai courts following a degree from Venkateswara University in Tirupati. He first became a councillor in 2006, and in 2007 he became the state BSP president. In 2011, he contested unsuccessfully the Kolathur Assembly seat against Stalin. He is known to take up the causes of the Dalit community and the poor. He was an Ambedkarite and a Buddhist. He was also known to be a history-sheeter with seven criminal cases against him, which were closed after his acquittal in courts.
The killing of Armstrong is a retaliatory one following the murder of a history-sheeter in Foreshore Estate, Arcot Suresh, in August last year and the latter’s brother, Ponnai V Baalu is one of the accused. Armstrong is believed to have been continuing to threaten Suresh’s family even after the August murder. Suresh also was prominent in the Perambur area of the city where Armstrong resided.
Suresh was dealing with a gold trading company that was involved in a financial scam, defrauding around a lakh investors during COVID-19 times. Armstrong was trying to help some of the investors retrieve at least a portion of the money, which caused friction between the two. According to police, Suresh’s family believes that his murder was carried out by a gangster group led by one Jayapal, who is in jail, on instructions from Armstrong. Police also say, another gang led by one Nagendran, who is also in jail, helped Baalu plan the hacking of Armstrong.
Supporters of Armstrong are unhappy with the police that he has been named a history-sheeter, and that those arrested were not the ones shown in CCTV footage. They have alleged the police are protecting the real culprits. Police countered it saying the arrests were made after tracking mobile phone locations, bike registration numbers, and CCTV footage.
Facing flak from all quarters, the DMK government on July 8 changed the Chennai Police Commissioner. Sandeep Rai Rathore has been transferred as the DGP, Police Training College. ADGP (law and order) A Arun is now the new Police Commissioner.
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All of this has now shone the light on gang wars and killings in full public view in busy localities. Police encounters have also become normalised. In October last year, police shot dead two men and said they were wanted in the murder of the AIADMK functionary. Indeed, some of those who surrendered publicly in the Armstrong case said they did so as they feared police might shoot them dead in a staged encounter after a chase.
Politically, these are damaging for the ruling DMK as a perception gains ground that the police are not given a free hand to deal with the law and order situation.
