CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police (GCP) investigation into the murder of K Armstrong, former state president of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), will be a landmark, for being one of the first cases where section 107 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) will be invoked to attach proceeds of crime of the accused, officials said.
This section gives power to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to attach and confiscate proceeds of crime, similar to the powers given to Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
According to official sources, investigators have filed an initial report with the local magistrate, identifying the properties that are proceeds of crime of the accused in the Armstrong case. The financial investigation, done by a separate team led by Additional Deputy Commissioner G Augustine Paul Sudhakar, follows the money trail in the case, especially payments made to those who carried out the hit, to procure weapons and bombs, sources added.
The police have so far arrested 28 people, of them one Thiruvengadam was killed in a police encounter on July 14. Armstrong was murdered on July 5, by an eight-member gang, in Perambur outside his under-construction house. City police filed a 5,000-page chargesheet naming history-sheeters P Nagendran, ‘Sambo’ Senthil and former Congress functionary N Aswathaman, as prime accused.
The murder was planned with associates of history-sheeter Arcot Suresh, who was hacked to death on August 18, 2023. Suresh’s brother Ponnai Balu was part of the eight-member gang that hacked Armstrong, GCP said in the chargesheet.
A source said that under section 107, an investigating officer can make an application to the court or a magistrate to attach a property that is derived or obtained indirectly or directly as a result of a criminal activity. The court or magistrate will issue a show cause notice to the accused who will have to explain why the property should not be confiscated.
“For example, if an accused has received `5 lakh for murdering someone, his property worth Rs 10 lakh can also be attached, as it could be the proceeds of another crime,” a senior police official explained. Section 107 of the BNSS also gives the court powers to distribute these confiscated properties to persons affected by the crime. In case there are no claimants, it will stand forfeited to the government.