BSP TN chief murder: Charge sheet names jailed gangster as accused

Chennai: The Greater Chennai City Police have filed a 5000-page charge sheet in the judicial magistrate court in the case related to the murder of renowned Dalit leader and BSP Tamil Nadu state president, K. Armstrong.

The charge sheet has named jailed gangster Nagendran as the first accused, fugitive gangster Sambav Senthil as the second accused and Nagendran‘s son and former state office bearer of Youth Congress and lawyer at Madras High Court Aswathaman as the third accused.

Armstrong, who was a popular Dalit leader and state president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was hacked to death on July 5th near his home in broad daylight while he was chatting with his brother and a few of his accomplices.

Immediately after the murder, five persons including Ponnai Balu, brother of killed gangster Arcot V. Suresh surrendered before the police. They informed the police that the murder was a revenge killing to the murder of Suresh who, according to the accused, was killed at the instance of Armstrong.

One of the arrested, K. Tiruvengaadam who was directly involved in the murder of Armstrong was later killed by police near Madhavaram Lake where he was brought for evidence gathering. Police said that Tiruvengadam, after his handcuffs were removed, attacked the police and that they had to resort to fire to stop him.

The murder of Armstrong has led to several conspiracy theories including that of the involvement of three gangsters with the connivance of certain political party leaders.

A functionary of AIADMK, Malarkodi who is an advocate and a former office bearer of Tamil Manila Congress (TMC), Praveen alias Hariharan and Ashwathaman, a former state office bearer of the Youth Congress are also on the list of accused.

Ponnai Balu, Arul, Ramu alias Vinoth, Hariharan, Malarkodi, and Sathish Kumar, who hails from Thirunindravur, have been added to the list of accused in the charge sheet.

There have been several allegations that the murder of Armstrong was part of a major controversy involving political leaders as the BSP leader was emerging as a major Dalit leader in the state.