BSP man’s murder: Seven including kin arrested

Chennai: A day after a BSP functionary was chased and hacked to death in broad daylight near Madhavaram, police arrested seven persons including relatives of the deceased in connection with the murder. Police said that the primary motive for the murder was jealousy and the deceased Murali’s strained relationship with his relatives.

J. Murali alias ‘Pothys’ Murali, in-charge of BSP’s Madhavaram unit was at his house in Thiruvallur Street, Madhavaram when the gang armed with deadly weapons knocked on his doors. A verbal duel ensued and in no time, the gang chased Murali and hacked him to death.

A history-sheeter, Murali is an accused in several murder and attempt to murder cases in the area. He got his moniker, ‘Pothys’ after he was accused in the waylaying of a cashier of the garment store, Pothys in 2012. A special team arrested the seven persons – D.Thyagarajan (36), S. Ranjith (29), G. Prabhu (27), M. Prabhakaran (35), S. Rathnam (36), S. Nagaraj (41) and C. Arokyaraj (26)- all from Madhavaram. They were picked up near the roundtana there, police said.

Of the accused, Rathnam, Nagaraj, Ranjith and Thyagarajan are relatives of the deceased.Investigations revealed that Murali’s friend had teased Thyagarajan’s niece and instead of condemning his friend, the deceased picked up a fight with Thayagarajan and hit him.

Further, the deceased believed that Ranjith was responsible for his arrest in a murder case in 2013. “Further, all of them rued that Murali was earning much more than them in a loading/unloading business from the godowns in Madhavaram,” a police officer said.