A 48-year-old DMK party functionary was hacked to death by a gang of six persons, in Madipakkam of Chennai on February 1, Tuesday night. Dispute over seat allocation for the ensuing urban local body elections is suspected to be the reason behind the gruesome murder.
The deceased, identified by the local police as C Selvam (48), was the secretary of the 188th ward in Rajaji Nagar. He was reportedly attacked by a group of bike-borne assailants at around 9.45 pm when he came out of his office in Rajaji Nagar in Madipakkam. Police rushed to the spot and took him to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead. The body was shifted to Chrompet General hospital for postmortem.
Local people gathered around Selvam's home, and his supporters created a ruckus by breaking liquor bottles and throwing them on the road. Police barricaded the entire area to prevent further escalation of violence and damage to property, including shops and establishments in the surrounding areas. Police are verifying CCTV footage of the local shops and other establishments to ascertain the identity of the assailants who escaped on bikes immediately after the attack.
According to police, Selvam and his wife Shameena were to be allocated seats in the urban local body elections and this is believed to be the reason for the attack. Police are also ascertaining whether any real estate dealings were behind the motive to attack Selvam.
According to a report in The Hindu, three special teams have been formed by police to nab the suspects involved in the killing of Selvam. “We are close to establishing the motive behind the murder. It is not a political rivalry. We suspect the motive behind the murder is a dispute in real estate dealings. Very soon, we will nab the killers,” a senior official said.
(With IANS inputs)