6 arrested for killing of BJP leader in Tamil Nadu: Cops
The 52-year-old BJP leader was riding his two-wheeler to go back home when he was cornered by a gang and attacked.
Six people have been arrested for the murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) district secretary, Selvakumar, in Sivaganga district, a police officer said adding that the reason for the crime was persona enmity.
The officer identified the arrested accused as Maruthu Pandi (20), M Arunkumar (20), P Vasanthakumar (25), U Satheeswaran (21), K Vishal (20) and Akash (19). The 52-year-old BJP leader was riding his two-wheeler to go back home when he was cornered by a gang and attacked. Those who saw him lying in a pool of blood on an arterial road informed the police and called for an ambulance.
Six special teams were formed to nab the accused following the murder around 8.45 pm on July 27. Following investigation, Sivaganaga’s superintendent of police Dongare Pravin Umesh reiterated that there is no political angle to the murder.
He said: “The accused believed that Selvakumar was the reason for the murder of a man named Bhuvaneshwaran from the same locality in 2019. The main accused is the cousin of Bhuvaneshwaran. But our inquiry shows that Selvakumar didn’t murder Bhuvaneshwaran but he has supported the assailants of the 2019 murder.”
The accused have been arrested under sections 301/24, 126(2) and 103 (1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Sivaganaga’s superintendent of police Dongare Pravin Umesh told HT that one of the accused Vasanth Kumar was shot on his leg when he attacked a police personnel and tried to escape.
“We had taken him to the spot to recover weapons which were used to assault the deceased when he caught hold of a machete and attacked a sub inspector Prathap. The sub inspector has a cut on his left arm and the inspector Manikandan fired the accused on his leg. The accused is admitted to a government hospital in Madurai,” he said.
He further said that inspector Manikandan took his service pistol and shot in the air as a warning, but the accused didn’t respond. “With no other go, he shot him on the left limb region. He sustained a bullet injury and fell down. The SI and accused were taken to the Government Medical College Hospital, in Sivagangai. After administering first aid, Vasanthakumar was admitted at the govenrment hospital in Madurai district for further treatment,” he added.
The BJP worker’s murder was not just the second in a spate of 24 hours in Tamil Nadu but also the fifth in this July. Earlier on Sunday morning, an AIADMK worker, Padmanabhan hailing from Cuddalore, was killed near the Puducherry border.
At around 6.30am on Sunday, an AIADMK worker, Padmanabhan from Cuddalore district was found murdered near the border of neighbouring Puducherry. Padmanabhan was driving his two two-wheelers when a car hit him from behind and unidentified assailants got down from the car and attacked him. Police are questioning two suspects.
The opposition BJP and AIADMK who have already been attacking the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) over the law and order situation further sharpened their attack.
While BJP’s state president K Annamalai said the anti-social elements have no fear of the police, AIADMK general secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) described Tamil Nadu as a state of murders. “Not a single day passes without an incident of murder. Law and order has deteriorated and Tamil Nadu is becoming a state of murders,” EPS said on Monday.
In response, Tamil Nadu’s law minister S Regupathy on Monday said that the government is engaged in focussing on taking action against anti-social elements. “Law and order has not deteriorated in the state; it is well maintained,” Regupathy told reporters. The motive in all the murders were either due to vengeance or previous enmity and not for political gains, he added.
The crimes have occurred days after a Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) office bearer was murdered in Madurai on July 16 and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tamil Nadu unit chief K Armstrong on July 5 in Chennai. On July 3, an AIADMK functionary was murdered in Salem.