CHENNAI: A 42-year-old advocate was hacked to death by a five-member gang in broad daylight in Vyasarpadi when he was returning home after dropping his two children at school on Wednesday.
This is the third daylight assault reported from Vyasarpadi in the past four days. On Saturday, D Hari, a cycle mechanic, was attacked by an armed gang, leaving him with grievous injuries on his head and face.
On Monday, Ajith Kumar (19) was attacked in full public view by an armed gang. The residents later staged a protest on Monday, seeking action against the anti-social elements in Vyasarpadi.
On Wednesday, the victim, T Ravi, a resident of Arumuga Pillai Street in Vasarpadi, left home around 8.30 am to drop his two children at school. “While returning, he was intercepted by a gang that came on two motorbikes on Sathyamoorthy Nagar Main Road. They parked their bikes a few metres away from the spot and approached Ravi. When the gang began assaulting him, Ravi left his scooter and attempted to run home, but the attackers gained on him near an Ambedkar statue and hacked him with sickles in full public view,” police said.
Meanwhile, passers-by alerted his family members who rushed to the New Magazine Road, only to find Ravi dead with cut injuries on his head.
Subsequently, relatives and friends of the victim staged a road-roko demanding immediate arrest of the miscreants. They refused to accept the body until their demands were met.
Police said Ravi was earlier a member of Viduthalai Chirutaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Puratchi Bharatham.
He later joined the Jananayaga Puratchi Munnani (Democratic Revolutionary Front). Police said that Ravi had once been booked for criminal trespass in a property dispute at Madhavaram and last year he assaulted a youth brigade member Dinesh.
Residents said he was well-known in the locality. “Even a year back there were banners of Ravi posing with law books at most of the joints in Sathyamoorthy Nagar,” said a resident of the area.
Following the incident, shops on New Magazine Road were shut fearing violence. A case was registered by the Vysarpadi police and Ravi’s body was sent to the Stanley Medical College and Hospital for an autopsy.
“He was involved in many petty land disputes, which earned him enemies in the locality. Three suspects have been identified so far. Further investigations are on,” said a senior police officer.