CHENNAI: An unidentified group of men barged into the maternity ward’s waiting area at the Government Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital and hacked a history-sheeter to death in the wee hours of Monday morning. Police said the attack may have been motivated by previous enmity.
According to Kilpauk police, the deceased man — identified as Aadhi alias Aadhikesavan (20) of Kolathur — was a C-class history-sheeter with at least nine cases, including murder, attempt to murder, criminal intimidation and assault, pending against him. He had come out on bail only 10 days ago, police said.
They added that Aadhikesavan was in a relationship with a married woman who delivered a child prematurely in December. On Sunday night, the child died at the hospital without responding to treatment. Upon information, the woman’s family and relatives along with Aadhi arrived at the hospital and got into an argument with the hospital staff. Police from the hospital outpost intervened and sent them away.
Upon learning that Aadhi was at the hospital to meet the woman, Surya, another man she was in a relationship with and father of her child, arrived to the hospital with a gang around 3.45 am on Monday, police said. They spotted Aadhi who was intoxicated and asleep in the waiting area and allegedly hacked him to death before fleeing the spot.
Kilpauk police rushed to the hospital and sent Aadhi for treatment but he was declared dead. A case was registered and his body was then sent for postmortem. Based on initial inquiry, three suspects were arrested and four others were detained later in the day. A probe is under way to ascertain the motive, police added.
Soon after the incident, Additional Commissioner of Police (South) K S Narenthiran Nayar and Joint Commissioner of Police (East) Bandi Gangadhar visited the spot and conducted an inquiry.
Speaking to reporters, Nayar said, “Aadhi and the woman were classmates and he came to visit her on Sunday night. Aadhi was involved in a 2023 murder case at Rajamangalam. Nine teams have been formed to trace the suspects.”
Investigation revealed that after coming out on bail, Aadhi had gotten into a clash with a relative of the 2023 murder victim. This could have led to the relative teaming up with Surya and his gang to plot an attack on Aadhi, sources said.
When TNIE visited the spot on Monday morning, the entrance to the hospital near the Kilpauk Metro Station was closed and the public had to go through the college entrance adjacent to the hospital. Police sources said that there are functional CCTV cameras in the premises.
T Sukumaran, attendant to one of the patients, said, “There is construction work going on inside the hospital premises and several people come and go. There is no system for proper checks at the entrances.”
Taking to X, BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran condemned the incident, alleging a total collapse of law and order in Tamil Nadu under the DMK regime. He said government institutions have become unsafe and asserted that the people of TN would bring this culture of violence to an end during elections. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, also in a post online, echoed Nagenthran’s concerns.
Meanwhile, health department officials convened a meeting with deans of all government medical college hospitals in the state. Instructions have been given to ensure all hospital access points are under complete camera surveillance and strengthen security at entrances and exits. As part of a trial initiative, one government hospital in Salem has begun regulating visitors through digitally verifiable ID tags, a system that is proposed to be rolled out to government medical colleges across the state.