A 25-year-old man was hacked to death by a gang allegedly led by a local Congress functionary. The incident was reported at Tsunami Nagar, Semmenchery, on Sunday night.
The deceased was identified as Mohan (25), a painter and the husband of Shankari. The couple has a four-month-old daughter and they were residents of Fifth Avenue at Tsunami Nagar.
Police said Mohan was returning home after work at around 11 pm, when an armed six-member gang dragged him to a secluded lane near his residence where they hacked him until he collapsed. Hearing his cries, his wife and neighbours rushed to his rescue only to find him in a pool of blood. “The victim had sustained multiple cut injuries on his head, chest and abdomen and had died on the spot,” Semmenchery Inspector Sivakumar said.
Semmenchery police rushed to the spot and moved the victim to Government Royapettah Hospital for a postmortem.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the victim had got into trouble with a local thug Dhimmas alias Lakshmanan, who was also a Congress functionary, a few months ago over a gambling issue, AC Gnanasekaran, Assistant Commissioner, Thuraipakkam, said. Both of them were arrested and while Mohan was let out on bail, Lakshmanan was still serving a term, he added.
Police suspect that the associates of Lakshmanan, including his wife Vijaya, and others hacked Mohan to death as a gang had previously threatened the victim’s wife at her home, a police official said.
Semmenchery police have registered a case and are investigating. “We have secured around 10 persons immediately after the murder and have detained four of them.” Inspector Sivakumar added.