India: Police arrest 8 for politician's murder in Chennai

World Saturday 06/July/2024 13:45 PM
By: DW
India: Police arrest 8 for politician's murder in Chennai

Chennai: Police in India's southern city of Chennai on Saturday said they had managed to arrest eight suspects in connection with the murder of a local political leader.

K. Armstrong, the Tamil Nadu state leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was hacked to death with machetes near his home in Chennai on Friday night.

Local media reported that Armstrong had been talking to friends and supporters near his home, when he was set upon by men with knives, traveling on motorbikes who then reportedly escaped before any intervention could be made.

Armstrong was taken to hospital for treatment but succumbed to his injuries, according to authorities.

Police said they then managed to trace eight suspects "within hours of the incident and arrested them."

Mayawati, the national head of Armstrong's BSP, who uses just one name, said the attack was "highly deplorable and condemnable."

"The state government must punish the guilty," she said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said "Mr. Armstrong's assassination is shocking and deeply saddening" and called for police to bring those responsible to justice.