Armstrong murder case : Hours after arrest, gangster 'Seizing' Raja killed in police encounter

Chennai: Notorious gangster 'Seizing' Raja, who was arrested from his hideout in Andhra Pradesh last evening and was being brought to the city in connection with the killing of former BSP Tamil Nadu Unit President K Armstrong, wa shot dead in encounter with the police on Monday morning.

A special police team, which traced his hide out in the neighbouring State and arrested him, was escorting him to the city for interrogation, when he tried to flee after attacking the police at suburban Neelankarai on the ECR stretch.

Reports received at the police headquarters here said, the special team opened fire in self-defence killing him on the spot.

His body was shifted to the Government hospital for post mortem.

This is the second encounter killing in the Armstrong murder case after a key accused Thiruvengadam was shot dead in July.

Raja was the 29th accused to be arrested in the case. He was being brought to Chennai when he tried to flee resulting in the encounter.

It may be noted that more than three months after the incident, a key suspect in the Armstrong killing was arrested in New Delhi on Saturday evening.

The suspect, identified as Appu (40), was arrested on charges of supplying country made bombs to the gang which had committed the murder.

He was brought to Chennai city on Sunday on transit remand for questioning.

As a follow up in the probe, the special team arrested Raja in Andhra Pradesh last evening.

With this a total of 29 people were arrested in connection with the case so far, while two of them, including Raja, were killed in an encounter with the police.

Those arrested included advocates and functionaries of the ruling DMK, AIADMK, BJP, Tamil Nadu Youth Congress, Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) and the son of a DMK functionary.

Armstrong was hacked to death by a six-member gang in front of his Perambur house in Sembium in North Chennai on the night of July 5.

Police said the murder was a sequel to the killing of history sheeter Arcot Suresh.

Apart from BSP Supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ms Mayawati, opposition parties in Tamil Nadu, including the AIADMK, BJP and the PMK also demanded a CBI probe and also met Governor R N Ravi and petitioned him in this regard.

Republican Party of India leader and Union Minister Ramadas Athawale also urged the Tamil Nadu government to transfer the case to CBI.

Though the police had ruled out any political angle into Armstrong’s killing, the involvement of political party functionaries has come to light during subsequent investigations.

One of the 29 accused arrested so far in connection with the murder was Ponnai V Balu--the younger brother of Suresh--who was cited as the prime accused in the case.

Also arrested was a notorious history sheeter Nagendran at Vellore Central Prison in connection with the killing. The Special team issued the arrest memo to him at the Prison, where he was serving life term in another murder case. He was also taken into police custody for interrogation and escorted back to the prison recently.

It may be noted that one of the key accused, Thiruvengadam (33), a history sheeter and involved in the murder of Armstrong, was killed in a police encounter on July 14 near Madhavaram in North Chennai.

Police opened fire in self-defence when he tried to escape after opening fire with an illegal pistol at the police when he was taken to recover the hidden weapons used in the murder of Armstrong.

And today, yet another arrested accused, Raja was killed in an encounter by the police.