Valarpuram village near Sriperumbudur in Kancheepuram district remained tense after P.P.G. Sankar, president of the panchayat, was murdered by a gang that hurled a country bomb at his car, then chased and hacked him on Thursday night.
Sankar, who was the treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Wing, was proceeding in an SUV to his home from the city on the Poonamallee High Road near Nazarathpet signal on Thursday night after attending a marriage in Kolathur.
A gang which followed him in another car waylaid his SUV by throwing a country bomb near the Nazarathpet signal. In the impact, the SUV was damaged and Sankar took to his heels to save himself from the gang. However, the gang chased Sankar, hacked him and fled the spot, a senior police officer said.
The Nazarathpet police sent the body to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for post-mortem. Later, a case was registered and two special police teams were formed to nab the offenders.
The victim was into real estate and metal scrap business. Police suspect both business and political rivalry dating back to 2012 when Sankar’s relative P.P.G. Kumaran was murdered by a gang of Mannur Kutti alias Venkatesan.
Venkatesan, who was a councillor and president of the Sriperumbudur Panchayat Union, was suspected to have been murdered by Sankar’s gang, to avenge the death of Kumaran, onApril 27, 2016. Venkatesan’s seventh death anniversary was held yesterday, a officer said.
Before any arrest could be made by the Nazarathpet police in the murder case, nine persons surrendered at the Egmore court on Friday. They were identified as R. Jagan, S. Guna, M. Sarathkumar, K. Anand, S. Santhakumar, K. Santhakumar, E. Sanju, R. Udayakumar and A. Dinesh.
Heavy security arrangements have been made at his village by the Kancheepuram district police to avoid any untoward incident.
Annamalai condemns murder
Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party president K. Annamalai strongly condemned the murder of Sankar by an armed gang here on Thursday night.
Expressing shock over the brutal murder, Mr. Annamalai said it showed that the law and order situation was not under control during the present “inefficient” government run by the DMK.
He alleged that the police, which ought to safeguard people’s lives and properties, was being turned into a department executing the wishes of the ruling party. He blamed the Chief Minister, who handles the department, for misleading people about the law and order situation. Urging the government to swiftly arrest the culprits involved in the murder, he said the BJP will carry out Statewide protests if such incidents continued.
