A man was hacked to death on Cement Road, just 100 metres from the residence of Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, at Thilaspet on Saturday night.
According to police, the victim, “Nondi” Aroumogham, was travelling in his SUV after handing over an invitation to the Chief Minister for a temple function when a group waylaid him and attacked with lethal weapons. He died on the spot. The police suspect the involvement of a rival gang. However, the police ruled out the incident as the fallout of rivalry between two factions in the ruling N.R. Congress.
“There is no connection between the murder and an incident that occurred during candidate selection for the Indira Nagar bypoll, when Aroumougham was attacked by supporters of a ruling party member. The deceased was involved in several other cases and inter-gang rivalry was the reason,” police said.
Meanwhile, tension prevailed in Dharmapuri area as supporters of the victim forced shop-owners to down shutters.
Though post-mortem was over on Sunday afternoon, the relatives of Aroumougham refused to accept the body in protest against what they called the “police version” of the incident.
