Former Home Guard tipped-off BSP leader’s killers about his whereabouts

Former Home Guard tipped-off killers in BSP leader murder case; key suspects arrested, revenge plot revealed, intense interrogation conducted.

Interrogation of the suspects arrested in the BSP leader K. Armstrong murder case has revealed that a former Home Guard, who lived close to the crime scene, had tipped-off the killers about Armstrong having fewer aides with him on the day of the incident.

The police identified the former Home Guard as T. Pradeep, who was arrested on Friday by a special team of police investigating the murder. The police have arrested 18 suspects, including two women, so far in this case. Among the 18 arrested persons, Ponnai V. Balu, 39, of Katpadi in Ranipet, K. Thiruvenkadam, 33, of Kundrathur, G. Arul, 33, of Thirunindravur are the key suspects.

The police said Armstrong was murdered by a gang led by Balu to take revenge for the killing of ‘Arcot’ Suresh, a history-sheeter and Balu’s brother, last year in Pattinambakkam. Thiruvenkadam was killed in an encounter at a hideout on July 14. He is a relative of Suresh and Balu.

The special team took the suspects under its custody and conducted intensified interrogation at an undisclosed location. After analysing call records of mobile phones used by Arul and Balu, the police traced those who were in constant touch with them ahead of the murder. The police said Pradeep was one of the persons traced this way and lived near Vengopalasamy Koil Street in Perambur, where the murdered occurred on July 5.

During the interrogation, Pradeep confessed that Suresh’s murder caused him mental agony. He and the other suspects learned that Armstrong was behind it and hatched a plan to take revenge. Pradeep was tasked with monitoring and informing the gang about Armstrong’s movements. The gang gave him a new mobile phone for this purpose. He kept this up for more than a month, the police said.

Armstrong was always surrounded by at least 10 supporters during the day. At night, the number of aides decreased whenever he visited the site on Venugopalasamy Koil Street, where he was building a new house. Pradeep closely monitored Armstrong during the night. On July 5, he noticed that Armstrong only had a couple of men with him and told the gang.

Pradeep called Arul over the phone and the latter sent the gang to the spot. Pradeep left the spot after the gang killed Armstrong and fled. He was also present at the funeral procession of Armstrong, the police said. Pradeep’s father was a sub-inspector.