The deceased Ramachandran (48) alias Arasu of Kolavakkam village was formerly the president of Edaikazhinadu Town Panchayat and the incident happened when he was going for a walk in his village.

A group of men reached the spot on bikes with machetes and on spotting them, Ramachandran tried to flee the spot. However, the gang chased him and hacked him repeatedly before fleeing the spot. The villagers who noticed him lying in a pool of blood rushed him to a nearby hospital, but he was declared brought dead.

On information, Chunambedu police sent his body to Marakkanam government hospital for post-mortem.

Chunambedu police have registered a case and launched a hunt for the suspects with three special teams. Further investigation is on to ascertain the motive of the murder and police are not ruling out a land dispute or previous enmity to be the reasons.

Meanwhile, agitated over Ramachandran’s death, his relatives and villagers gathered on ECR in front of the town panchayat office and staged a protest.

The protest also brought traffic to a standstill on the stretch for about two hours. The protesters dispersed only after Chengalpattu district police superintendent Kannan reached the spot and held talks with them.