Tense moments prevailed at Sathyamurthy Nagar in Vyasarpadi here on Wednesday morning after hundreds of residents of various slum tenements sat around the body of advocate T. Ravi (45) who was hacked to death by a gang.
According to police, Ravi, a resident of Arumuga Pillai Street at Sathyamurthy Nagar, was an advocate and he had floated an outfit, Jananayaga Puratchi Munnani. When he was on his way back home on his two-wheeler around 10.45 a.m on Wednesday, a gang intercepted his bike and attacked him. In a bid to escape, he parked his bike and ran towards New Magazine Road. However, the gang chased him and hacked him to death.
Some residents alerted Ravi’s family, but when they rushed to the spot they found him lying in a pool of blood.
Following the gruesome murder, hundreds of residents gathered around the body. As the situation became tense, police personnel were deployed there in large numbers. “Initially, the residents did not allow the body to be taken away for post-mortem. However, they relented after senior police officers visited the spot and consoled the family,” said a police source.
Fearing violence, many shops in the locality downed the shutters. Police said that Ravi was involved in civil disputes. He was also booked for assaulting a Youth Brigade member, Dinesh, in Vyasarpadi police station last year.
On Thursday, the police arrested eight persons in connection with the murder. A hunt has been launched to nab one more accused, Babu alias ‘Olai’ Babu.
The arrested have been identified as Rajini, Nagaraj, Thondairaj, Vellai Raj, Aravind Raj, Vikram, Dhilip Kumar and Vignesh. According to the police, the eight revealed during the questioning that they were all personally affected by the advocate.
The gang was tracking the advocate for two days.
“They intercepted Ravi when he was going home. On seeing them, Ravi started running. The eight assailants, who rode bikes, chased and hacked him to death even as residents watched helplessly,” said a police officer.
According to the police, Ravi used to appear for his clients in Egmore court.
He was also suspected to have organised kangaroo courts,” said a police officer.
Ravi was attacked by a gang while he was on his way home on Wednesday morning
