Chennai: A 43-year-old real estate businessman was hacked to death in broad daylight by four persons, even as his college-going daughter watched helplessly at West Mambalam on Tuesday morning.
The 19-year-old girl suffered injuries in the attack and is undergoing treatment.
The victim, Kandhan, was murdered a few metres away from his residence on Naickar street in West Mambalam. He was on a motorbike to drop his daughter Keerthana at her college in Adyar when the incident happened around 7 am, police said.
They were moving along Ellaiyamman Koil Street when an autorickshaw intercepted them. A four-member gang that got out of the vehicle started raining blows on Kandhan, pushing his daughter away. Keerthana suffered injuries when she attempted to come in between her father and the attackers.
The morning crowd fled watching a gory murder unfold in a residential neighbourhood. Kumaran Nagar police rushed to the scene and moved Kandhan and Keerthana to a hospital where Kandhan was declared brought dead.
Preliminary investigations suggested a gang enmity to be the reason behind the murder. Kandhan, a resident of Kannamapettai moved with his family to West Mambalam about four years ago. He was running a cable TV business with a history-sheeter, Logu until two years ago. Both of them were involved in the murder of one, ‘Pallu’ Rajendran in 2010. After a fallout, Logu started his own business. It is said that police used Kandhan to find the whereabouts of Logu after he jumped bail in July last year. This, police suspect to be the reason behind the murder.
Logu has been detained under the Goondas Act at least five times. Kumaran Nagar police are perusing the CCTV footages in the neighbourhood to ascertain the identity of the attackers.
