CHENNAI: Emotional mourners gathered for the funeral proceedings of slain Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state president K Armstrong at the Chennai Bunder Garden School in Perambur on Sunday.

Amid protests by BSP cadre at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, the BSP leader's body was handed over to his family after midnight. After being taken to his Ayanavaram residence, his body was brought to the school for the public to pay their homages.

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court refused to allow permission to bury Armstrong's body in the BSP party office at Perambur. The leader's bereaved wife Porkodi had made an urgent appeal to the court for the same.

Filmmaker Pa Ranjith was seen weeping as he arrived at the Perambur school to pay his last respects to the BSP leader. Directors Mari Selvaraj and Vetrimaran too paid homages.

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BSP supremo Mayawati has arrived in Chennai from Uttar Pradesh to attend the last rites.

Around 800 police officers have been deployed at the school for security purposes. Mourners are being screened before being allowed inside the premises.

Minister PK Sekar Babu and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K Selvaperunthagai had paid their last respects to the BSP leader after midnight after his body was brought to his residence in Ayanavaram.

Armstrong was hacked to death by a six-member bike-borne gang near his house in Perambur in Chennai on Friday, sending shockwaves across the state.

In a midnight operation soon after the murder, eight suspects were apprehended. The main accused is Ponnai V Balu (39), the younger brother of Arcot V Suresh, a notorious gangster who was hacked in full public view last year.

Although the city police officially ruled out any political motive behind the murder, top sources in the department confirmed to DT Next that the killing was in retaliation for Arcot Suresh's murder.