DMK man’s son killed after failed extortion bid

CHENNAI: A 35-year-old man was hacked to death on Thursday morning by a bike-borne gang of six men allegedly after a failed extortion bid, Police said that the victim was killed as he didn’t pay as demanded by a jailed gangster, over the phone. Police identified the deceased as V Kamaraj of Wimco Park Nagar in Thiruvottiyur. He was a private contractor who had been engaging with the Public Works Department (PWD), said the police.

Kamaraj is the son of a district DMK functionary, Vivekanandan. The family is related to former MLA KPP Samy, said the police. Vivekanandan also works as a contractor receiving tenders from the Chennai corporation. Kamaraj has an office along the Thiruvottiyur Highway near Ennore. “On Thursday morning Kamaraj reached the place and opened the office. At around 9 am Kamaraj was seated in his office when the gang barged into his office and hacked him,” police said.

Though the victim tried to flee, the gang followed him and hacked him, leaving him in a pool of blood before escaping from the scene.

The passersby rushed Kamaraj to the hospital where he succumbed to injuries on Thursday afternoon. The Ennore police have registered a case and sent his body to the Stanley Government Hospital for post mortem. After preliminary investigations police said that they suspect that a notorious gangster, now jailed in Puzhal prison, had been calling the victim for the last three months trying to extort money. As the victim refused to oblige, the gangster seems to have arranged the killers sitting in prison, sources said. Kamaraj is survived by his wife Yamini and two daughters.