The deceased was identified as BBG Shankar (42) of Valarpuram in Sriperumbudur, who was the president of the Valarpuram village panchayat. On Thursday night, Shankar was returning from Chennai in a car.

As the car was on the Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway in Nazarathpet near Poonamallee, a few unidentified men intercepted the car and hurled country bombs at the vehicle. Realising his life was in grave danger, Shankar got down from the car and started to run away from the spot. However, another group that was waiting at a few metres away chased Shankar and hacked him to death using sickles. They escaped from the spot after confirming Shankar was dead, police said.

After receiving an alert, a police team from the Nasarathpet station rushed to spot. They sent Shankar’s body to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination. Police said the gang did not attack Shankar’s car driver, who managed to escape from the spot.

A few years ago Shankar’s close friend, BBG Kumaran, was hacked to death in the same manner by their rival gang. Initial inquiries revealed that Shankar was killed by the business rivals. Further investigations are on.