Armstrong Murder Part 1: There’s more to it than meets the eye

At the outset, the brutal murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tamil Nadu president K. Armstrong in July 2024 was presumed to be an act of revenge for the killing of ‘Arcot’ Suresh, an alleged gangster in north Chennai, in 2023. The months-long investigation by the Greater Chennai Police, however, has exposed a web of conspiracy involving three major gangs in the city and their thirst for dominance. This is Part 1 of a three-part series on the crime that shook the State, and is based on the 5,000-page charge sheet filed by the police in October 2024, exclusively accessed by R. Sivaraman

Dusk had fallen on July 5, 2024, when Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tamil Nadu president K. Armstrong was inspecting his 2,400-square foot plot on a narrow Venugopalaswamy Koil Street at Perambur, where the foundation was being laid for his new house. He was chatting with a few people at the site, located close to his relatives’ houses and the BSP office.

Around 7 p.m., eight persons — four of whom were clad in the uniform of a food delivery platform — arrived at the spot on two-wheelers, one after another. Before Armstrong could sense the lurking danger, the gang swiftly and indiscriminately attacked him with machetes and knives. Unarmed and unguarded, Armstrong tried to shield himself by raising his hands. He, however, slumped to the ground and thereafter, he was stabbed at least 31 times.

His brother K. Veeramani, who was nearby, rushed to his rescue, but was hit on the head by the assailants. Armstrong’s driver sustained cuts to the back of his shoulders.

Two others were also injured as they tried to stop the attack. The eight-member gang escaped from the narrow lane on two-wheelers by brandishing weapons at people who had gathered by then. The critically injured were taken to Apollo Hospitals on Greams Road. But Armstrong died on the way.

Later that night, the eight alleged assailants walked into a police station at Anna Nagar in an act of surrender. They said they were related to a gangster in north Chennai, ‘Arcot’ Suresh, who was killed last year, and that they had murdered Armstrong for revenge as they believed that he was responsible for the death of Suresh. They were V. Ponnai Balu, 39; G. Arul, 32; K. Manivannan, 25; K. Thiruvengatam, 33; D. Ramu, 38; J. Santhosh, 22; S. Thirumalai, 45; and D. Selvaraj, 48.

The Sembium police opened an investigation into Armstrong’s murder based on Mr. Veeramani’s complaint and were quick to rule out a political angle in the case. But as the investigation progressed, the confessions of those who had surrendered did not add up.

Cut to today. Greater Chennai Police Commissioner A. Arun and his special teams have arrested 27 persons, including members of the Congress, the AIADMK, the BJP, and the Tamil Manila Congress, for complicity in the murder. Gang leaders P. Nagendran and ‘Sambav’ Senthil have been named as the accused no. 1 and 2.

Voluminous materials, including documentary evidence and witnesses, have been cited in the final 5,000-page charge sheet, which was recently submitted to a jurisdictional magistrate court. The Hindu has exclusively accessed the final charge sheet, which brings together the several strands in this investigation.

Who was Armstrong?

Armstrong was a prominent Dalit leader and his murder triggered a furore in Tamil Nadu. When his body was brought from Apollo Hospitals to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for a post-mortem, his supporters staged a road roko condemning the killing.

Armstrong’s social and political influence in Tamil Nadu, especially in Chennai, has been towering, though electorally speaking, the BSP has had limited influence in the State. An Ambedkarite Buddhist, Armstrong grew up in Perambur in north Chennai. He was the ninth child of his family that migrated to the area from Tiruvallur district. Growing up, he set his sights on a job in the Railways, but soon developed a liking for participating in amateur boxing events in north Chennai. He was associated with several Dalit leaders in his area and quickly grew as a striking figure in north Chennai and certain parts of north Tamil Nadu, where his influence extended beyond politics and local affairs.

Armstrong entered politics while obtaining an LLB degree from Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati. He practised law in Chennai courts and he successfully contested as an Independent candidate in the Chennai Municipal Corporation elections in 2006. He was elected from a ward in north Chennai as councillor. Subsequently, he joined the BSP and was made its State president in 2007.

He was once labelled a history-sheeter by the Chennai City Police; his name figured in at least six criminal cases. He was either discharged or acquitted in all of them. As his influence grew, Armstrong became a man of several enemies. He was often seen guarded or moving with a crowd. On the evening of July 5, however, he was not.

The key conspirators

It was the conspirators’ agenda to make the murder of Armstrong look like a crime committed by a group of low-key criminals to avenge the murder of ‘Arcot’ Suresh, a senior officer of the Greater Chennai Police told The Hindu. They thought that once the suspects surrendered immediately after the crime, the police would not investigate further. “But we unearthed the whole network and their conspiracy,” the officer said.

According to the charge sheet, some of Armstrong’s rivals joined hands to hatch a conspiracy to murder him. While one gang in the city brought them all together, another supplied the money and the arms. Yet another gang executed the killing when the BSP leader was unguarded.

The story, therefore, does not begin with ‘Arcot’ Suresh or his murder; it inevitably starts with the accused no. 1 in the charge sheet, P. Nagendran. Nagendran, 54, of Sathyiamurthi Nagar at Vyasarpadi has been serving a prison sentence for the past 25 years. He is lodged at Vellore Central Prison. He was jailed after being convicted in the murder of AIADMK worker Stanley Shanmugam in 1997 at Vyasarpadi. Known among the police as a gangster who once ruled north Chennai, he was once respected by none other than Armstrong, who would call him Periyavar (The elder). But, over time, with Nagendran’s arrest and Armstrong’s subsequent rise as a key political figure, there was a shift in their power dynamics.

Nagendran’s son N. Aswathaman has been named the accused no. 3. An advocate and former Congress functionary (who was expelled by the party after his arrest), he was also allegedly involved in criminal activities, according to the charge sheet. In recent years, the father-son duo grew increasingly hostile towards Armstrong owing to his frequent interference in their “businesses”.

One such was the murder of A. Thennarasu, secretary of the BSP North Chennai unit. A close associate of Armstrong, Thennarasu was accused of at least three murders and named in a dozen other criminal cases. In February 2015, when Thennarasu emerged from a marriage hall at Thamaraipakkam near Vengal, he was allegedly murdered by the gang of ‘Arcot’ Suresh at the instigation of Nagendran. The Tiruvallur police started an investigation; but BSP workers, directed by Armstrong, conducted a series of protests demanding a CBI probe into the murder. The case was transferred to the CB-CID, Tiruvallur. Nagendran was named the prime accused and formally arrested. By then, Nagendran’s prison term in the case of murder of Stanley Shanmugam had expired, but he had to remain in jail.

In January last year, Armstrong reportedly got in the way of the father and son yet again when Aswathaman allegedly attempted to steal land from an advocate named T. Sekar, who, on behalf of a builder, had been developing 150 acres near Sholavaram to sell. Aswathaman and his men reportedly forcibly entered the land and allegedly threatened Sekar to give them 10 acres. As Sekar refused to do so, Nagendran, who had had a liver transplant earlier and had come down to a private hospital in Chennai from the prison on February 22, 2023, got hold of a mobile phone and allegedly called him up and threatened him. At the insistence of Armstrong, Sekar lodged a complaint with the police.

An apprehensive Aswathaman, who wished to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate, decided to back down, fearing a case would affect his political prospects. At ‘compromise’ talks held at the office of an advocate, Armstrong intervened and forced Aswathaman to apologise. Sekar then withdrew the complaint.

Aswathaman allegedly held Armstrong responsible for scuttling his political career. The father-son duo made it known overtly that they would go to any extent to get back at Armstrong. But there were others who wanted to settle scores too.

Role of Senthil

Senthil Kumaran, also known as ‘Sambav’ Senthil, has been named as the accused no. 2 in the case.

The 48-year-old, who hails from Tondiarpet, has a law degree, but is known to run katta panchayats or kangaroo courts in Chennai. An expert at chalking out plans and sending hirelings to murder or attack someone, Senthil, in the words of the police, is one of the “most notorious and wanted gangsters” in the city. However, he is learnt to have been operating out of foreign soil through internet calls to his men in Chennai.

He has now been removed from the bar council’s roster and barred from practising law.

The police say Senthil’s feud with Armstrong began as Armstrong’s men refused to vacate a house bought by his mother Rajeshwari at A.K. Swami Nagar, Kilpauk, in 2005. Armstrong’s associates were running K.V.S. Sat TV, a cable television agency, on the said premises. A dispute arose between the two parties, and Armstrong’s men agreed to vacate the premises only after “extorting” ₹12 lakh from Senthil.

Besides their enmity towards Armstrong, Senthil and Nagendran had a common link: a remand prisoner at the Coimbatore Central Jail named Raja, who worked for Senthil. Raja, an accused in an idol smuggling case, and Nagendran were lodged at the same prison a few years ago. The police would later discover that this link was significant as it brought together Nagendran and Senthil. Senthil allegedly executed several plans, including Armstrong’s murder, drawn up by Nagendran from the prison.

Murder of Suresh

On August 18, 2023, Armstrong’s aide Ottrai Kann Jayapal and his associates allegedly hacked ‘Arcot’ Suresh, 48, to death on Loop Road at Pattinapakkam.

This was allegedly in revenge for the murder of Thennarasu near Vengal in 2015. When Suresh was murdered, Armstrong was said to be present in a car nearby, the police said. However, he was not named in the case. Believing that Armstrong was responsible for the murder of Suresh, his brother ‘Ponnai’ Balu, of Ponnai village in Ranipet district, sought revenge. He joined hands with his friends and relatives, including G. Arul, of Thirunindravur, a relative of Suresh and an advocate. Six others, who claimed to be furious over Suresh’s death, joined Balu and Arul. Word quickly spread that a plan to murder Armstrong was afoot, and when Aswathaman got to know of it, he realised that it was time to get back at the BSP leader.

Arul, who was told that Aswathaman and Nagendran wanted Armstrong murdered, spoke to Aswathaman on the phone on April 1, and again on 8.

The plot quickly thickened over the next few weeks.

Part 2: The unravelling of the murder plot

(Collated by S. Meenakshy)

Published - November 02, 2024 12:54 am IST