Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Bahujan Samaj Party's Tamil Nadu chief K Armstrong was hacked to death by a six-member two-wheeler gang near his residence in Chennai's Perambur on Friday.
Armstrong was chatting with friends and supporters when the assaulters launched an attack with deadly weapons. The assailants fled after inflicting grievous injuries. The BSP leader was rushed to the hospital but succumbed on the way. A day later, Chennai Police said they have held eight people in the case so far.
Armstrong's murder has triggered a wave of anger against the ruling DMK, as politicians and supporters of the slain leader censure the government over the 'deteriorating' law & order in the state. Police, so far, have ruled out any political angle to the killing.
His body was kept at the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital in Chennai and a post-mortem was conducted Saturday morning. The last rites are expected to take place on Sunday.
Who Was K Armstrong?
A native of Chennai, Armstrong lived in Venugopala Swamy Temple Street in Perambur. His father was a supporter of Periyar and Dravidian Kazhagam. Interested in politics since his school days, Armstrong studied law at Tirupati Venkateswara University and worked as a lawyer. In 2000, he started active politics and joined the Puratchi Bharatham party under the leadership of Poovai Murthy.
After Poovai Murthy's demise, he left the party in 2006 and started an organisation called Dr. Bhimrao Dalit movement with the youth of the area. Later, in the local elections held in 2006, Armstrong contested as an independent candidate in the 99th ward of the Chennai Municipal Corporation and became a member of the Chennai Corporation. Subsequently, he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party and was appointed as the party's state president in 2007, a post he held till his assassination.