Vetriselvan (47), personal assistant to Thol. Thirumavalavan, president of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, was hacked to death near his home in Madipakkam on Wednesday morning.
The brutal murder, suspected to be the fallout of rivalry over a realty transaction, triggered angry reactions from party activists who sought action against the assailants. St. Thomas Mount District police said five men armed with knives came in a car near Vetriselvan’s office on Raghava Nagar Fourth Main Road. He was in his car when the accused first struck at the windshield. The victim opened the door and tried to flee but was assaulted.
He continued to run and collapsed outside a catering service office. A cook who tried to intervene was attacked, police said. The gang pulled Vetriselvan out, dragged him inside a neighbouring shop, pulled down the shutter and dealt a series of blows to his neck, face, throat and head. They left the scene leaving him in a pool of blood. Onlookers rushed him to a hospital where he was declared dead.
As news of the murder spread, his party colleagues and residents assembled in Madipakkam and raised slogans. Traders closed shops on the Medavakkam Main Road.
Vetriselvan owns a civil engineering firm and reportedly ran into problems with his relatives over the transaction of property on ECR. He was earlier with Communist Party of India (Marxist) and joined VCK in 2009. In his post on Facebook on Tuesday evening, he had said his leader Mr. Thirumavalavan would be there “to struggle and establish equality wherever dominant forces were in play.”
