Politics, gang rivalries and revenge murders

Meta Description: A detailed look at major political murders in Tamil Nadu, including high-profile cases like Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and ongoing investigations.

On July 5, a group of men wearing the uniform of a food delivery app walked up to a man standing and chatting with a few people on a busy street in north Chennai and hacked him down with machetes. The man who was cut down was K. Armstrong, an Ambedkarite and Bahujan Samaj Party Tamil Nadu president. Eleven people were arrested for the murder. Based on the confessions of the accused, the police said the murder was to avenge the killing of history-sheeter Arcot Suresh last year. Political party representatives have dismissed this explanation and urged the government to identify the real reasons for the murder. At this juncture, here is a look at some of the major cases of murder of political leaders in Tamil Nadu — whether for political motives or as a result of gang rivalry or one-upmanship — and the status of investigation into them.

The brutal murder of DMK leader K.V.K. Samy is, by and large, counted as the first political murder in the State. He was a municipal councillor and president of the salt workers’ union. On the night of September, 20,1956, he was attacked by his adversaries on North Cotton Road, Tuticorin, and left to die. The murder was reported to be the result of enmity between him and another DMK leader R.S. Thangapalam and lorry owner Perumal Nadar. The Tirunelveli Sessions Court acquitted Thangapalam and four of his associates, but convicted four others of the charge of murder and sentenced them to death. The High Court later set aside the acquittal.

A freedom fighter, Immanuel was a member of the Indian National Congress. He emerged as a key Dalit leader, fighting for the rights of his people. His rivalry with a caste Hindu group, associated with Muthuramalinga Thevar, was said to be behind his assassination. A group waylaid and killed him on September 11, 1957. Thevar himself was arrested, but released without any charge.

On June 19, 1990, 15-20 men, armed with light machine guns and other automatic weapons, came in two cars around 7 p.m. to a three-storey apartment at Zachariah Colony, Kodambakkam, where a large number of men of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and their families were staying. Their leader K. Padmanabha, 38, and other prominent functionaries of the militant group were into an informal meeting in a flat on the second floor. The armed men sprinted up the narrow staircase and stormed their way to the flat with their guns blazing. In the next four minutes, the armed men belonging to the rival group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sprayed bullets on the EPRLF leaders and cadre and lobbed five grenades. Fourteen of them, including Padmanabha and Finance Minister in the defunct North-Eastern Provincial Council P. Kirubakaran, were killed. In November 1997, a designated court acquitted 15 of the 17 accused persons on the ground that the prosecution had “not proved beyond any reasonable doubt” the allegations against them. Judge Arumuga Perumal Adithan convicted Chinna Santhan and Anandaraj of offences under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA). Among those acquitted were former DMK Minister Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan; her husband Jagadeesan; former Home Secretary R. Nagarajan; MDMK leader V. Gopalsamy’s brother V. Ravichandran; and advocate D. Veerasekaran.

This is perhaps the most high-profile murder of a politician on Indian soil. On the night of May 21, 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated at a political rally at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, by a woman suicide bomber. Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, alias Dhanu, a member of the LTTE, activated the bomb wrapped around her body while pretending to touch Gandhi’s feet. At least 14 others, including the assassin, were killed. The Special Investigation Team confirmed the role of the LTTE in the assassination. In 1998, the special court for TADA cases sentenced all 26 accused to death. However, on appeal, the Supreme Court sentenced only four accused persons to death and the others were awarded various jail terms. The death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. In 2022, the court ordered the premature release of all seven convicts: Nalini Sriharan; A.G. Perarivalan; Ravichandran; Santhan; Murugan; Robert Payas; and Jayakumar.

Elumalai Naicker, a front-ranking leader of the MDMK, was assigned police security. Yet, he was attacked by an armed gang when he was talking to a friend at Royapuram in April 1994. The murder was the fallout of a fight between two gangs for controlling truck operations in the harbour, the media reported. Subsequently, DMK MLA R. Mathivanan and three others were discharged from the case.

On April, 23,1997, Leelavathi, a CPI(M) councillor of the Madurai Corporation, was returning from a ration shop, while her husband was discussing with a few others how to celebrate May Day. Hearing a commotion a few metres away, they rushed there to find Leelavathi’s throat slashed. There was no possibility of survival from the wound. In September 1996, Leelavathi was elected the councillor for Ward 59 at Villapuram. She had mobilised residents of the neighbourhood and raised her voice against the extortion from petty shop-owners by political parties. The police arrested six DMK men in the case. Maradu, alias Nallamarudu, the prime accused, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Maradu was released, along with 1,404 others, in 2008 to mark the birth centenary of DMK founder C.N. Annadurai.