Armstrong Murder Part 1: There’s more to it than meets the eye

Dusk had fallen on July 5, 2024, when K. Armstrong, president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Tamil Nadu, inspected his 2,400 square meter plot on a narrow Venugopalaswamy Koil Street in Perambur, where the foundation was being laid for his new house. He was talking to a few people at the location, close to his relatives’ houses and the BSP office.

Around 7 p.m., eight persons – four of them dressed in the uniform of a food delivery platform – arrived at the spot one after another on two-wheelers. Before Armstrong could sense the lurking danger, the gang quickly and indiscriminately attacked him with machetes and knives. Unarmed and unguarded, Armstrong tried to protect himself by raising his hands. However, he collapsed to the ground and was then stabbed at least 31 times.

His brother K. Veeramani, who was nearby, rushed to his aid but was hit on the head by the attackers. Armstrong’s driver suffered lacerations to the back of his shoulders.

Two others were also injured as they tried to stop the attack. The eight-member gang escaped from the narrow alley on two-wheelers by waving weapons at people who had already gathered. The seriously injured were taken to Apollo Hospitals on Greams Road. But Armstrong died along the way.

Later that evening, the eight alleged attackers walked into a police station in Anna Nagar in an act of surrender. They said they were related to a north Chennai gangster, ‘Arcot’ Suresh, who was murdered last year, and that they had killed Armstrong in revenge as they believed he was responsible for Suresh’s death. They were V. Ponnai Balu, 39; G. Arul, 32; K Manivannan, 25; K. Thiruvengatam, 33; D. Ramu, 38; J. Santhosh, 22; S. Thirumalai, 45; and D. Selvaraj, 48.

Sembium police opened an investigation into Armstrong’s murder based on Mr Veeramani’s complaint and quickly ruled out a political angle in the case. But as the investigation progressed, the confessions of those who surrendered did not add up.

Cut to today. Greater Chennai Police Commissioner A. Arun and his special teams arrested 27 persons, including members of the Congress, the AIADMK, the BJP and the Tamil Manila Congress, for abetting the murder. Gang leaders P. Nagendran and ‘Sambav’ Senthil have been named as accused no. 1 and 2.

Voluminous materials, including exhibits and witnesses, have been cited in the latest 5,000-page charge sheet, which was recently presented before a competent magistrate. The Hindu has been given exclusive access to the final indictment form, which brings together the various parts of this investigation.

Who was Armstrong?

Armstrong was a prominent Dalit leader and his assassination caused a furor in Tamil Nadu. When his body was taken from the Apollo Hospitals to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital for an autopsy, his supporters staged a away roko condemning the murder.

Armstrong’s social and political influence in Tamil Nadu, especially in Chennai, has been enormous, although the BSP has had limited electoral influence in the state. Armstrong, an Ambedkarite Buddhist, grew up in Perambur in north Chennai. He was the ninth child of his family to migrate to the area from Tiruvallur district. Growing up, he had his sights set on a job in the railways, but soon developed a penchant for participating in amateur boxing events in north Chennai. He became associated with several Dalit leaders in his area and quickly rose to become a notable figure in northern Chennai and certain parts of northern Tamil Nadu, where his influence extended beyond politics and local affairs.

Armstrong entered politics while pursuing an LLB degree from Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati. He practiced law in courts in Chennai and successfully contested as an independent candidate in the 2006 elections to the Chennai Municipal Corporation. He was elected from a ward in north Chennai as a councilor. He subsequently joined the BSP and became state president in 2007.

He was once labeled as a history maker by the Chennai city police; his name appeared in at least six criminal cases. In all these cases he was dismissed or acquitted. As his influence grew, Armstrong became a man of several enemies. He was often seen guarded or moving with a crowd. However, on the evening of July 5, he was not.

The main conspirators

The agenda of the conspirators was to make Armstrong’s murder look like a crime committed by a group of low-key criminals to avenge the murder of ‘Arcot’ Suresh, a senior officer of the Greater Chennai Police told The Hindu. They thought that once the suspects surrendered immediately after the crime, the police would not investigate further. “But we have exposed the entire network and their conspiracy,” the officer said.

According to the indictment, some of Armstrong’s rivals joined forces to plot to kill him. While one gang in town rounded them all up, another gang supplied the money and weapons. Yet another gang carried out the killing when the BSP leader was unguarded.

The story therefore does not begin with ‘Arcot’ Suresh or his murder; it inevitably starts with the accused No. 1 in the charge sheet, P. Nagendran. Nagendran, 54, from Sathyiamurthi Nagar in Vyasarpadi has been serving a prison sentence for 25 years. He is lodged in Vellore Central Jail. He was jailed after being convicted of the 1997 murder of AIADMK worker Stanley Shanmugam in Vyasarpadi. Known to the police as a gangster who once ruled north Chennai, he was once respected by none other than Armstrong, who would call him Periyavar (The eldest). But over time, with Nagendran’s arrest and Armstrong’s subsequent rise as a key political figure, there was a shift in their power dynamics.

Nagendran’s son N. Aswathaman has been named suspect No. 3. As a lawyer and former Congress functionary (who was expelled by the party after his arrest), he is also alleged to have been involved in criminal activities, according to the charge sheet. In recent years, the father-son duo became increasingly hostile toward Armstrong due to his frequent interference in their “business.”

One of these was the murder of A. Thennarasu, secretary of the BSP North Chennai unit. Thennarasu, a close associate of Armstrong, was charged with at least three murders and named in a dozen other criminal cases. When Thennarasu emerged from a wedding hall in Thamaraipakkam near Vengal in February 2015, he was allegedly killed by ‘Arcot’ Suresh’s gang at the instigation of Nagendran. Tiruvallur police started an investigation; but BSP workers, led by Armstrong, staged a series of protests demanding a CBI investigation into the murder. The case was transferred to the CB-CID, Tiruvallur. Nagendran was named the main suspect and formally arrested. By then, Nagendran’s prison sentence in the Stanley Shanmugam murder case had expired, but he was ordered to remain in prison.

In January last year, Armstrong reportedly stood in the father and son’s way again when Aswathaman allegedly tried to steal land from a lawyer named T. Sekar, who had developed 150 acres near Sholavaram to sell on behalf of a builder. . Aswathaman and his men reportedly entered the land by force and threatened Sekar to give them 10 hectares. As Sekar refused to do so, Nagendran, who had earlier undergone a liver transplant and had come from jail to a private hospital in Chennai on February 22, 2023, picked up a mobile phone and allegedly called him and threatened him. At Armstrong’s urging, Sekar filed a complaint with the police.

A worried Aswathaman, who wanted to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a Congress candidate, decided to withdraw fearing that a case would affect his political prospects. During “compromise discussions” at a lawyer’s office, Armstrong intervened and forced Aswathaman to apologize. Sekar then withdrew the complaint.

Aswathaman is said to have held Armstrong responsible for scuttling his political career. The father-son duo openly announced that they would do everything they could to get back at Armstrong. But there were also others who wanted to settle the scores.

Role of Senthil

Senthil Kumaran, alias ‘Sambav’ Senthil, has been named as accused no. 2 in the case.

The 48-year-old, who hails from Tondiarpet, has a law degree but is known for his katta panchayats or kangaroo jobs in chennai. An expert at hatching plans and sending mercenaries to kill or attack someone, Senthil is, in the words of the police, one of the “most notorious and wanted gangsters” in the city. However, it is learned that he was operating from foreign territory through internet calls to his men in Chennai.

He has now been delisted from the Bar Association and is no longer allowed to practice law.

Police say Senthil’s feud with Armstrong started when Armstrong’s men refused to vacate a house bought by his mother Rajeshwari at AK Swami Nagar, Kilpauk, in 2005. Armstrong’s associates operated KVS Sat TV, a cable television agency, on the said property. A dispute arose between the two parties, and Armstrong’s men agreed to vacate the premises only after “extorting” ₹12 lakh from Senthil.

Besides their enmity towards Armstrong, Senthil and Nagendran had a common bond: an inmate at the Coimbatore Central Jail named Raja, who worked for Senthil. Raja, an accused in an idol smuggling case, and Nagendran were lodged in the same jail a few years ago. The police would later discover that this connection was important as it brought Nagendran and Senthil together. Senthil is said to have carried out several plans, including the assassination of Armstrong, prepared by Nagendran from prison.

Murder of Suresh

On August 18, 2023, Armstrong’s aide Ottrai Kann Jayapal and his associates allegedly hacked ‘Arcot’ Suresh, 48, to death on Loop Road in Pattinapakkam.

This is said to have happened in revenge for the murder of Thennarasu near Vengal in 2015. When Suresh was killed, Armstrong was said to be present in a car nearby, police said. However, he was not named in the case. Believing that Armstrong was responsible for Suresh’s murder, his brother ‘Ponnai’ Balu, from Ponnai village in Ranipet district, sought revenge. He joined hands with his friends and relatives, including G. Arul, from Thirunindravaur, a relative of Suresh and a lawyer. Six others, who claimed to be enraged over Suresh’s death, joined Balu and Arul. News quickly spread that there was a plan to kill Armstrong, and when Aswathaman heard about it, he realized it was time to go back to the BSP leader.

Arul, who was told that Aswathaman and Nagendran wanted to kill Armstrong, spoke to Aswathaman on the phone on April 1 and again on April 8.

The plot thickened quickly over the next few weeks.

Part 2: The unraveling of the murder plot

(Collected by S. Meenakshy)