CHENNAI: Seven persons, including two juveniles, have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of two gaana singers near Padappai on Sunday morning. Police said they were murdered as an act of revenge linked to an earlier double murder case reported in Chennai two months ago.
Bharath (25) and Seenu (24) of Varadharajapuram were locally known for gaana performance at events. After a performance at Padappai on Saturday evening, they stayed the night at a friend's place in Ammanambakkam, rather than at their own house.
Around 7 am on Sunday, a gang of seven broke into the house and attempted to attack the friend, Lokesh, who managed to escape. The gang then turned on the duo and hacked them to death. Bharath was found dead inside the house, while Seenu collapsed near the entrance in a pool of blood.
The Manimangalam police rushed to the spot on information and sent the bodies to the Tambaram Government Hospital for post-mortem. Special teams were formed under the order of Tambaram City Police Commissioner to trace the accused. The probe revealed that the dual murder was linked to another dual murder in Tirisulam.
A couple of months ago, two people linked to a ganja-selling gang, Arumugam and Sathish, were hacked to death, and police suspect that Bharath and Seenu had provided shelter and support to some of the accused involved in this case.
Police also suspect that the victims had been passing information about rival gangs, and on Sunday, they were killed in revenge for the Tirisulam double murder.
Based on CCTV footage and other evidence, police arrested seven suspects on Monday night. The arrested persons were identified as Kumaravel alias Potti (20) of Mudichur, Santhosh Kumar (23) and Velan (19) from Old Perungalathur, Ayyappan (26) from Pallavaram, Kalaiselvan (20) from Peerkankaranai, and two 17-year-old boys from Mudichur. All seven accused are currently being interrogated.