A police encounter resulted in the death of one of the eleven suspects in the murder of K Armstrong, the Tamil Nadu president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), police revealed on 14th July. He had attempted to attack the cops and flee in the Madhavaram neighbourhood of Chennai. The individual identified as Thiruvengadam was taken to a place near Madhavaram at 7 am on Sunday to find the weapons that were used to kill Armstrong. But he tried to attack one of the sub-inspectors and tried to escape from the place, after which the police team opened fire at him.
Additional Commissioner of Police, Chennai North, Narendra Nair announced, “The encounter took place today and investigation is underway.” 33-year-old K Thiruvengadam from Kundrathur is history sheeter, as per police. Prior to the assassination, he is reported to have followed the BSP leader for a few days, closely monitoring his movements.
#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: Thiruvengadam, an accused in the murder case of Tamil Nadu BSP state president K Armstrong, was killed in a police encounter in Madhavaram area near Chennai.
— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2024
Additional Commissioner of Police, Chennai North, Narendra Nair said, "The encounter took place… pic.twitter.com/qzNVseoWhL
Police sources disclosed that Thiruvengadam was brought to the area at 7 am to seize guns that were apparently employed in K Armstrong’s killing when he opened fire on the officers with one of the retrieved weapons. The subsequent gunfight resulted in injuries to him and he was taken to the government Stanley Medical College right away. “Doctors declared him brought dead upon arrival,” informed authorities.
On 5th July, K Armstrong was hacked to death by six unidentified people while he was standing outside his under-construction house in Perambur. A group of bike-borne men attacked him with knives, leaving him fatally injured on the road. He was pronounced dead after being taken to a private hospital on Greams Road. Afterwards, a government hospital received his body for a postmortem. Eight persons, including Thiruvengadam, were taken into custody by the city police a few hours later.
Ponnai V Balu (39), D Ramu (38), K S Thirumalai (45), D Selvaraj (48), G Arul (33), K Manivannan (25) and J Santosh (22) were also nabbed by the cops. The following day, three more men, Gokul, Vijay and Sivasankar were arrested. Armstrong was killed, according to the city police, in retaliation for the death of Arcot Suresh, a history-sheeter, close to the Foreshore Estate in 2023. Suresh’s younger brother Ponnai V Balu is among the arrested accused. The suspects were placed under five days of arrest by the authorities on 11th July to interrogate them.
A fierce political uproar ensued in the state after the incident, with opposition parties accusing the MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government of failing to maintain law and order. Mayawati, the supremo of the BSP, visited Chennai and also sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into K Armstrong’s death, charging that the people who have been arrested thus far are not real perpetrators. She implored Chief Minister MK Stalin to forward the case to the central agency to ensure the victim could receive justice.
She conveyed, “I urge the state government, especially the Chief Minister, to ensure law and order in the state. The weaker sections, in particular, should feel safe. Had the government been serious, the accused would have been arrested. Since that is not the case, we urge the state government to refer the case to the CBI.” K Armstrong, a lawyer, was chosen in 2006 to serve on the Chennai Corporation Council. His rise to prominence began two years ago when he invited the BSP president to a massive rally he organized in Chennai.
