Chennai: The ‘bloody’ war among rival political parties in the ensuing local body election picked up pace with the arrest of a quintet including two BJP functionaries in connection with the murder of Acharapakkam panchayat’s vice-president reported on Thursday morning.
The deceased, A. Srinivasan, (48), a DMK’s farmer unit functionary, was riding his two-wheeler back to Acharapakkam after visiting a temple in Thozupedu, when a five-member gang intercepted and hacked him in full public view, at around 10.30 am, on Thursday.
The gang also took away his bike, which was later found in Vandavasi in Tiruvannamalai district. Police began their probe suspecting that the murder was an outcome of business rivalry since the deceased was running real estate deals besides settling civil matters out of the Court through kangaroo courts.
Preliminary probes established it to be a political murder. Investigations revealed that Srinivasan’s politicking converted the pocket as DMK’s stronghold even when he was not contesting to the civic body. BJP’s Kancheepuram district youth unit organiser Karthik, (35) and another BJP local unit functionary, Balaji, (40), were upset over this.
Since Karthik and his friends were absconding since the report of the incident, the suspicions fell on him. Subsequently, Karthik, resident of Patalam near Chengelpet and his two aides, Gunaseelan, (37) and Nagarajan, (38) both from Manapakkam near Chengelpet, were picked up, on Saturday morning.
The trio confessed to the crime. Further investigations led to the arrest of Balaji, (40), the BJP functionary from Acharapakkam and Perumal, (38), also from Acharapakkam, in the evening.
The gang was aware of the fact that they would have to lose in the election if Srinivasan prevailed and it prompted them to take him out before the notification of local body elections. The word among the locals is that deceased and Balaji’s gang had a longstanding rivalry in administering a local temple in Acharapakkam.
