In yet another brazen murder in Chennai city, a 30-year-old BJP functionary was hacked to death by a three-member gang in Chintadripet on Tuesday night, May 24. The victim has been identified as Balachandran, who is the Chennai district secretary of BJP’s SC/ST wing. According to the police, around 7.50 pm on Tuesday, Balachandran was talking to his friends on the busy Swamy Naickar street, when a group of unidentified people on bikes chased him and hacked him to death in full public view. The victim had suffered serious cut injuries and was taken to Government General Hospital, where the doctors declared him as brought dead.

Balachandran was provided with security cover by the Tamil Nadu police as he had alleged a threat to his life and he was accompanied by an armed police security officer (PSO) round the clock. The incident happened when the PSO stepped away to have tea in a nearby shop on Tuesday night. Immediately after the incident, forensic teams rushed to the spot to gather evidence. Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal has formed special teams to nab the accused. The police teams are scanning CCTV footage for clues and police personnel have been deployed in Chintadripet.

The incident has raised serious questions over the deterioration of the law and order situation in Chennai city which has seen a spate of murders in the past few days. On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu opposition party leader and AIADMK co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami also raised concerns over the law and order situation in Chennai and pointed out that 18 murders have taken place in Chennai city in a span of 20 days.