CHENNAI: A ‘camp leader’ at the Sri Lankan Tamil rehabilitation camp at Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district was murdered on Saturday night. Six people, including two women, have been arrested in connection with the crime. While a probe is underway to ascertain the motive behind the murder, relatives and other residents staged a protest demanding justice for the victim.
According to the SIPCOT police, the accused have been identified as Selva alias Swendran, Mahendran alias Kannan, Deepak, Akash Prasanna, Pushpa Jothi and Akshaya. The police said that the victim, Kanna alias Sivakumar (42), was the administrative committee leader of the camp at Pethikuppam where more than 3,000 people reside. Police said Sivakumar was walking inside the camp on Saturday night when a group, with whom he reportedly had prior enmity, intercepted him and attacked him with an iron rod, targeting his head and face.
Sivakumar collapsed on the spot in a pool of blood. On information, the police rushed him to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. His body was later sent to a government hospital for postmortem. Following the murder, a road blockade was held on the Chennai-Kolkata NH. The protesters also demanded not to allow the accused to return to the camp and instead send them to a special camp or deport them. A case was registered and the gang has been arrested.