Former friend among 7 held for VCK functionary's murder

CHENNAI: The police have nabbed seven suspects for the murder of VCK functionary and history sheeter, Anbazhagan alias Maina Kutty.

Anbazhagan (45) of Tiruneermalai near Pallavaram was a deputy organiser of the district volunteers’ wing of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). He was also a history-sheeter at the Shankar Nagar police station. He was facing murder cases in connection with the killings of Kumar from Tiruneermalai in 2009 and Ganesan, a DMK functionary from Pammal Nagalkeni, in 2021, besides assault cases.

On Thursday afternoon, Anbazhagan was speaking with a friend near the Ambedkar statue in Tiruneermalai when a seven-member gang arrived in an autorickshaw. Anbazhagan ran into a DMK branch office nearby in an attempt to escape, but the gang followed him and hacked him to death.

Based on a complaint, the Shankar Nagar police registered a case and launched a search for the suspects.

The police arrested seven people on Friday in connection with the murder. They were Venus alias Balachandar (48) of Pammal Nagalkeni, Hariharan (29) of Chromepet, Karthikeyan (23) of Mannivakkam, Vishnukumar (21) of Pallavaram, Mukesh Kannan (24) of Nedungundram, Vimal (26) of Kavanur, and Rajkumar (23) of Maraimalai Nagar.

According to police, Ganesan, a DMK functionary from Pammal Nagalkeni, was murdered in 2021 after he allegedly tried to prevent some people from selling government land using forged documents. Venus, Anbazhagan and another person were arrested and remanded in custody in that case.

Then, Venus was a member of the DMK and was also trying to contest the Pammal municipality ward councillor election. Police said Venus had no involvement in the murder, but Anbazhagan had allegedly implicated him in the case, resulting in his arrest and imprisonment. This led to his removal from the DMK, hampering his efforts to contest in the election.

The two, who had earlier been friends, subsequently fell out and developed a power battle, according to police.

Police further said the two also had disputes over real estate activities. Angered by Anbazhagan, Venus allegedly waited for an opportunity and hired men to kill him, police said.