CHENNAI: A 63-year-old man was hacked to death by a three-member gang hardly 100m away from his house in Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar in Pulianthope on Tuesday morning. Police suspect the murder to be the result of a rivalry between two groups which wanted to establish their supremacy in the locality.
Radhakrishnan, relative of a history-sheeter Chenna alias Chennakesavalu, had gone to drink tea near his house at around 5.30 am. “He was seated near the shop, when the gang hacked him with sickles and fled,” said a police source.
The tea stall owner informed the police, who rushed to the spot and moved the body to the Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital.
Radhkrishnan lived with his son Sampath, a law student. Radhakrishnan’s family who were waiting at the mortuary suspect associates of ‘Arcot’ Suresh, a history-sheeter, behind the incident.
“For the last one week, my father claimed to be getting indirect threats from Suresh’s associates. He informed me about it and we decided to shift but later, my father himself decided to stay back,” said Sampath.
“He was very friendly with the police. My family did not want to be involved or carry forward Chenna’s cases,” he added.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Chenna alias Chennakesavalu was hacked to death by a 10-member gang near the court complex in 2010, where he had come for a trial in an explosives case.
Then it was found that associates of Arcot Suresh had hacked Chenna to death.