A man accused in the July 5 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party leader K Armstrong was gunned down by the police on Sunday during an encounter in Chennai, reported The New Indian Express.
The man, identified as 33-year-old K Thiruvengadam, was allegedly involved in three murders, reported The Hindu. He hailed from Chennai’s Kundrathur locality.
He is suspected to be involved in the 2015 murder of a man named Thennarasu, who was the Tiruvallur district president of the Bahujan Samaj Party, reported The Times of India.
At about 7 am on Sunday, Thiruvengadam was escorted by the police to a spot near a lake in Chennai’s Madhavaram area where he had allegedly hidden the weapons used to kill Armstrong.
Thiruvengadam was shot dead after he tried to attack a policeman and escape, according to The New Indian Express. He is among 11 persons who have been arrested in connection with Armstrong’s murder.
All the accused persons were on Thursday remanded to police custody for five days.
Armstrong, the party’s Tamil Nadu unit chief, was assassinated on July 5 by a six-member gang in Chennai’s Perambur area.
The 47-year-old Dalit politician was killed while talking to friends and supporters near his home. The assailants attacked him with machetes and sickles and threatened those who tried to intervene.
The police have not yet disclosed a motive for the killing.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had urged the Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam government in Tamil Nadu to ensure punishment for the guilty.
“The gruesome killing of K Armstrong, Tamil Nadu state Bahujan Samaj Party president, outside his Chennai house is highly deplorable and condemnable,” she had said in a post on X. “An advocate by profession, he was known as a strong Dalit voice in the state.”
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