Three rowdy-sheeters booked for murder of BJP man

CHENNAI: Chintadripet police registered a case against three rowdy- sheeters in connection with the murder of K Balachandran (30) on Tuesday. Balachandran, the secretary of BJP Scheduled Caste Wing in Central Chennai district, was hacked to death by the gang in public view.

Four special teams have been formed to nab the accused. Meanwhile, Balachandran’s personal security officer (PSO), who had stepped away to a nearby shop at the time of the incident, has been suspended. According to the police, the accused were identified as Pradeep, Sanjay and Kalaivanan after sifting through the CCTV footage at the crime scene.

A senior police officer said, “An investigation is on and only after the accused are nabbed will we get clarity on the issue.” The police said Balachandran has six criminal cases, including two attempts to murder cases, pending against him. He came out on bail recently.

On Tuesday night when Balachandran and his PSO had come to Samy Nayakar Street, the gang attacked him when the PSO was away. Balachandran tried to flee, but the group chased him and hacked him to death. He was rushed to the Omandurar Government Hospital, where he was declared dead.

Talking to reporters, City Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal said former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s remarks that there have been 18 murders in the city over the past 20 days is incorrect. There have been 10 murders and out of these four were due to previous enmity and others were due to family issues.