More than 500 residents blocked the Tiruvottiyur High Road in Tondiarpet on Tuesday, demanding that the families of the seven suspects in the murder of an MTC driver be sent out of the neighbourhood.
The agitators, comprising a number of women, brought traffic to a halt near the Apollo Hospitals on the road.
“It is scary when neighbours start killing each other for petty reasons. We feel insecure after the murder in the locality,” said S. Kamatchi, a resident of Tondiarpet.
On Monday, a Metropolitan Transport Corporation driver was hacked to death by seven of his neighbours at his house on Kailasa Mudali Street in Tondiarpet.
According to the police, the victim, D. Senthil, saw his neighbours N. Krishnan (35) and his brother N. Anthony (44) arguing with a motorcyclist. They were demanding money for the treatment of Krishnan’s five-year-old son who had been hit by the two-wheeler. With Senthil’s intervention, the motorcyclist ended up paying a smaller amount. Agitated over the loss of compensation money, the duo along with five others murdered Senthil at the latter’s house on Monday.
Rumours then spread that the suspects had been arrested and later let off.
The blockade that lasted for more than an hour resulted in vehicles piling up for nearly a kilometre. A team led by the deputy commissioner of police (Washermenpet), Najmul Hoda, rushed to the spot and pacified the agitators.
The police informed the agitators that the suspects had been lodged at the central prison in Puzhal. The police told them that the families of the suspects could not be sent away, but assured them that there would be no further violence in the neighbourhood. The residents then dispersed peacefully.
