Hours after a suspect in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader K Armstrong was shot dead in an extrajudicial killing, the Chennai police released new CCTV footage of the crime. The video footage shows the assailants, some of them dressed as Zomato delivery agents, surrounding Armstrong and hacking him to death on July 5, outside his under-construction house.
According to police sources, the footage was released to dispel speculation that the 11 men arrested in connection with Armstrong’s murder were not the real perpetrators. The footage highlights the names of the men who can be seen attacking the leader.
The CCTV footage was obtained by the police from a camera installed in the building next door to Armstrong’s house construction site. According to the time stamp, the attack occurred at 7:15 pm, as police had said earlier.
What the CCTV footage shows
The new camera angle provides a view of the street where Armstrong was building his new house. Though Armstrong isn’t visible in this stretch of the street, around seven construction workers and two others can be seen. The construction pit and a cement mixer placed near the pit had blocked most of the road, and the killers can be seen moving on the road one by one towards Armstrong.
The first suspect seen on camera passing the site is Ramu (alias Vinoth). Ramu is seen walking from the entrance of the street, passing the construction site, and moving towards Armstrong. Thiruvengatam, who was extrajudicially killed on July 14, is the second suspect seen on camera as he walks by.
After this, a bike rider wearing a helmet and a red Zomato shirt goes by, with a Zomato carrier visible on the bike’s pillion. Seconds later, another man in a similar outfit also goes by on a bike. Police claim that these two men were Manivannan and Santhosh. The fifth suspect to walk by, according to the police, was Sivasakthi. Two more suspects, Arul and Ponnai Balu, also pass by next.
A few seconds after Ponnai Balu passes by, the attack unfolds just outside the camera’s view. The men then can be seen on the edge of the frame, hacking Armstrong.
The construction workers and others on the road are taken by surprise and a few of them can be seen rushing to help but they too are attacked.
An unidentified man who was in conversation with a construction worker runs towards the attackers when one of them threatens him with a weapon. The man flees while the assailants congregate at a spot almost completely out of frame. It is clear that they are attacking someone viciously with sharp weapons. The man who police say is Vijay and another also in a Zomato shirt and still wearing a helmet are seen repeatedly hacking Armstrong who had collapsed on the ground.
The construction workers are also chased away by the assailants. The police have released another zoomed in version of the same footage where the attack on Armstrong is more visible and the attackers can be seen relentlessly hacking him.
According to police sources, there were two CCTV cameras in the vicinity and one camera was dysfunctional.
Ponnai Balu is the brother of Arcot Suresh, a A+ history sheeter who was killed last year. Police claim that Ponnai Balu believed that Armstrong was involved in his brother’s death and wanted revenge.
The others who surrendered with Ponnai Balu were K Manivannan, K Thiruvengatam, D Ramu, J Santhosh, S Thirumalai, G Arul, and D Selvaraj. Additionally, three others – Gokul, Vijay, and Sivasakthi – were arrested on July 6.
Reactions
Responses to the CCTV footage and the extrajudicial killing of Thiruvengatam have been mixed. While the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) welcomed Thiruvengatam’s killing, many politicians and activists condemned it as police excess. Activists also point out that Thiruvengatam was both a witness to the crime and a suspect, and that the police’s claim that he attacked them with a gun before attempting to flee is not believable.
Following the public outcry over Thiruvengatam’s extrajudicial killing, the Greater Chennai Police issued a press release. In their statement, the police claimed that Thiruvengatam was being taken to a location in the Manali industrial area where, according to his confession, he and the other attackers had taken cover and hidden their weapons. According to the police, Thiruvengatam escaped when their vehicle stopped near the Red Hills cattle market.
The statement further claimed that the police caught up with Thiruvengatam at Vegetarian Village in Puzhal, where he allegedly opened fire at them with a concealed weapon. The police asserted that they fired back only in self-defence, injuring Thiruvengatam. He was then rushed to Meridian Hospital, where he was declared dead. The police also stated that Thiruvengatam was involved in four other crimes: two murders, a mugging, and causing grievous injury.