CHENNAI: The city police on Sunday arrested seven persons in connection with the murder of an auto driver in his residence in Tondiarpet two days ago.

M Anand (29) of Sivaji Nagar was hacked to death by a gang of 11 inside his house on Friday night. His pregnant wife, Roja, was at a shop nearby when the gang carried out the attack.

On reaching home, Roja found Anand in a pool of blood after which she alerted the police. RK Nagar Police moved him to a hospital where he was declared as brought dead.

After investigations, police arrested S Karthik (20), R Santhosh (23), S Sathishkumar (22), R Nagaraj (23), C Bharath (23), B Dhanasekar (20) and K Sivashankar (20) for the murder on Sunday. Investigations revealed that Anand’s murder was the result of enmity between his elder brother and his rival gang.

In January this year, Karthik and Dhanasekhar (two suspects held for Anand’s murder) were also involved in the stabbing of his elder brother, Suresh. They had recently come out on bail and gathered accomplices and murdered Anand. All suspects were remanded to judicial custody. Special teams have been formed to nab the absconding suspects.