Tension gripped several parts of Paramakudi after a gang chased down a former municipal councillor of the BJP along Bazaar Street and hacked him in broad daylight in full public view on Tuesday.
The victim, Murugan (45), an active functionary of the BJP here, ran a coconut shop on Bazaar Street.
Murugan was on his way home for lunch in the afternoon when he was intercepted by a four-member gang on two motorcycles.
The gang suddenly hurled a petrol bomb at Murugan, but it did not explode and fell on the ground. Murugan then took to his heels, but the assailants chased and hacked him with deadly weapons, injuring his neck, hands and head and left him dead in a pool of blood.
The incident was played out in front of shopkeepers and the public, who fled the spot in panic.
Following information from the public, police rushed to the spot, recovered Murugan’s body and sent it to the government hospital for autopsy.
The daring murder of a BJP functionary triggered tension in various parts of Paramakudi, with several commercial establishments, especially those along Bazaar Street, downing their shutters soon after word of the incident spread.
The Town Police apparently recovered two unexploded crude bombs from near the spot where Murugan’s body was recovered.
Police registered a case and launched a hunt for the assailants. A huge posse of police have been deployed in the area and Superintendent of Police Mylvahanan also conducted an inquiry at the murder spot.