Tamil Nadu BSP Chief Armstrong murder accused killed in police encounter

Chennai: One of the key accused, Thiruvengadam, a history sheeter, involved in the murder of BSP Tamil Nadu Unit President K Armstrong, was killed in a police encounter on Sunday morning at Madhavaram area in North Chennai.

Armstrong was murdered on the night of July 5 by a six-member gang.

The CB-CID police, which was probing the case, have so far arrested 11 people in connection with the murder.

A police team took Thiruvengadam to recover the weapons used in the murder of Armstrong when the incident happened.

The accused tried to attack one of the Sub-Inspectors and tried to flee when the police opened fire in self defence killing him on the spot.

His body was taken to government hospital for post mortem.

It may be noted that Thiruvengatam along with 10 others have been in police custody since July 11 for interrogation.

While eight accused--V Ponnai Balu, K Manivannan, Thiruvengadam, D Ramu, J Santhosh,

S Thirumalai, G Arul, D Selvaraj--have surrendered soon after the murder, three others, Gokul, Vijay and Sivasakthi were arrested later by the police.

During questioning, Thiruvengadam had admitted to supplying the weapons used to murder Armstrong. He was taken to the spot where he allegedly told the police had hidden the weapons.

According to police, Thiruvengadam had also admitted to supplying the country-made bombs that were seized from the suspects. When the special team took him to recover the weapons, the encounter took place, police said.