AIADMK man hacked to death in full public view

The gang, which was not bothered about the presence of the public, brought down V Kanakaraj (55) from a bike on which he was riding pillion and then hacked him several times. The assailants stood at the scene of crime, continuing to hack him and left only after making sure that he was dead. All the three then went straight to the Tiruvannamalai Town police station with the machetes dripping with blood and surrendered. 

Police said the trio were Punk Babu, a DMK party man, who had earlier worked for AIADMK and his associates Raja and Saravanan. They were remanded to police custody. Police said an issue regarding a real estate deal between Kanakaraj and Punk Babu was the motive behind the murder. 

Kanakaraj was on his way to play badminton after attending a wedding at Gandhi Nagar. He was riding pillion on his friend Kannadasan’s scooter to the Government Arts College Ground. The three assailants came on a bike and knocked down the scooter. They started hacking Kanakaraj and chased away Kannadasan who tried to save him. 

Two of the assailants, who were carrying machetes, hacked Kanakaraj several times killing him on the spot. The gang stood there for a moment and left the spot only after ensuring that Kanakaraj was dead. Police said Punk Babu and Kanakaraj used to do real estate business together and Babu had given Rs 2 crore to Kanakaraj to purchase a 4,500 square feet property with a building at Gandhi Nagar. 

However, it is alleged that Kanakaraj did not purchase the property and also refused to return the money, which infuriated Punk Babu. He then decided to eliminate Kanakaraj and took the help of his associates Raja and Saravanan, police said. Kanakaraj was the former city secretary and municipal councillor of AIADMK.