A 33-year-old history sheeter who is one of the 11 persons arrested for the involvement of the murder of Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) leader K. Armstrong was killed in an encounter near Madhavaram on Sunday morning. The police team fired at the accused when he tried to escape by firing at the police team. Armstrong was murdered by a gang near his house in Perambur on July 5.
A senior official of the City police said K. Thiruvengadam was one of the main culprits involved in planning the murder of Armstrong along with the main accused Ponnai Bala, who is the brother of murdered history sheeter Arcot Suresh. Thiruvengadam who is from Kundrathur has a total of five criminal cases pending against him, including three murder cases, notably the murder of Thennarasu, a close confidante of Armstrong, near Thamaraipakkam Koot Road in 2015.
Police officers are conducting investigation at the spot, Vegetarian Nagar, Madhavaram in Chennai, where the accused Thiruvengadam who was one of the accused in the murder of BSP state leader K. Armstrong, was killed in police encounter on July 14, 2024 | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
The police official said in addition to the Thennarasu murder, Thiruvengadam is the accused in two murder cases registered in Kundrathur police station. Also he is accused in a case relating to robbery in Mangadu station.
The Sembium police which was probing the murder case had taken five-day custody of the 11 accused persons lodged in Poonamallee prison. A police team from Kodungaiyur had taken Thiruvengadam to Manali reportedly to recover the weapons used for the murder in the early morning on Sunday.
When the security vehicle reached the goat market near Red Hills, he requested to be allowed to answer nature’s call. When he was allowed, he escaped from the police and hid in a tin-roofed shed in Vegetarian street in Madhavaram.
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The police team, bolstered with additional forces, identified the location of the accused hiding in the tin-shed, where they claimed the plan to murder Armstrong was hatched, and approached him. However Thiruvengadam started firing at them with a country revolver, and the police had to return fire, sources said.
Thiruvengadam was hit in the abdomen and chest. The police team rushed him to a private hospital where he was pronounced brought dead.
The Puzhal police on filing a case have sent the body to Government Stanley hospital for post mortem.
