|
|
by IANS |
Chennai, April 4 (IANS) Tamil Nadu police are on the lookout for an AIADMK district level functionary alleged to be behind the murder of a DMK leader J. Soundararajan, who ran a juice shop inside the Broadway bus station.
Police suspect that Soundrarajan, who was murdered in broad daylight on Sunday by a four-member gang in two motorbikes, was the victim of political enmity as he had switched to the DMK from AIADMK a few months ago.
The police said that the incident occurred on Sunday when Soundararajan and a few others were involved in setting up a shed near the Broadway bus station in Chennai to distribute water to the passerby during the scorching heat when four men on two bikes approached him. On seeing the assailants, he, along with accomplices, ran but was stabbed by the criminals on his face and neck multiple times with machetes and knives.
The Flower Bazar police reached the spot and took a profusely bleeding Soundararajan to the Rajiv Gandhi memorial hospital but doctors declared him brought dead.
Chennai City Police commissioner Shankar Jiwal while speaking to IANS said: "We are on the lookout for the assailants. Police are also probing into the altercation the deceased had a few days ago with a group of AIADMK men over the construction of the watershed to distribute drinking water to the passers-by. The police are not leaving any stone unturned and the angle of his alleged enmity is also being probed.
Notably, Soundarrajan was a district-level functionary of the AIADMK and his switching sides to the DMK a few months ago was not taken well by the AIADMK local leaders and cadres. Sources in the police said that he had a major fight with another district-level functionary of the AIADMK and the two had a heated argument in public recently.
Soundararajan's friends and family and the DMK local leadership alleged that this AIADMK leader was involved in the attack.
Chennai city police said that two teams of police led by Assistant Commissioners have been constituted to nab the culprits and said that the team will catch the assailants soon.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Water Resources minister S. Duraimurugan, Electricity minister, Senthil Balaji expressed grief and condolences over the death.
