CHENNAI: A four-member gang beheaded a 35-year-old man in Chennai near the Santhome Church on Tuesday night. The police suspect the murder could be the result of the previous enmity.
The deceased, identified as Gopi, was a resident of Venkatasamy Street in Mandaveli who ran a real estate business and an Aavin milk parlour near his house. During the investigation, the police found out that Gopi was an associate of notorious history-sheeter Sivakumar and had cases of murder and attempt to murder pending against him.
“At around 10.30 pm, Gopi was visiting his friend who runs an eatery in Appu Street after he visiting the milk parlour. As he stepped out of the shop and was nearing his car parked on the road, the four-member gang on two motorbikes reached the spot and hacked Gopi with machetes,” said Gowtham, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mylapore.
The gang had brutally butchered the head and there were no injury marks on his body. The incident happened in full public view and eyewitnesses told TNIE that the gang had threatened the crowd with machetes and sped away on the two-wheelers.
Based on the complaint, Mylapore police rushed to the spot and retrieved Gopi's body and sent it to the Government Royapettah Hospital for a postmortem. Police said that Gopi was also a part of the gang that murdered one Shankar last year in Chennai and that they suspect he could have been murdered for revenge.
A case has been registered and further investigations are on.