DT Panorama: A bloody history of political murders in liberal Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: The political history of Tamil Nadu is as bloody as it is liberal. Celebrated for its enviable ranking on various human development indices in over half a century of the Dravidian party rule, the State could only boast of a chequered history vis-à-vis political violence. The gruesome killing of BSP State president K Armstrong here last week, the reason for which is still inconclusive, or even the suspicious death of Tirunelveli East district Congress president K Jayakumar Dhanasingh exactly two months ago, are only the latest entries in the State’s dark political chronicle. Notwithstanding that Tamil Nadu is a far cry from the gun-toting gundagiri of some of the northern states, a relatively peaceful Dravidian hinterland has also had a fair share of political murders that at times overshadow its socioeconomic progress. Factually speaking, the history even predates the beginning of the heyday of the two Dravidian parties, writes KARTHIKEYAN K

K Armstrong

Slain K Armstrong was the State president of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party. A practising advocate, Armstrong advanced the cause of the marginalised sections of the society. He was also a councillor of Greater Chennai Corporation. He contested against chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin unsuccessfully in the 2011 Assembly polls. His popularity peaked after he raised the welfare of Dalits in subaltern Chennai. He faced many criminal cases filed by the State police. His contribution to the socioeconomic development of the underprivileged classes earned him a reputation among the Dalits in the state. A proponent of the Dalit cause, Armstrong was also targeted by the non-Dravidian parties for his criticism of atrocities against the Dalits.

KVK Samy

The ‘first’ of the sensational political murders that shook the State was recorded in September 1956 when KVK Samy, executive committee member of a then fledgling DMK, was hacked to death in his native Thoothukudi district due to local political rivalry a year before the party even contested its maiden Assembly election. DMK founder CN Annadurai infamously wondered after the first post-independence political murder of the state if they were living in the modern 1950s or the barbaric past.

K Padmanabha

Though the State had witnessed many low-profile political murders in the following three decades, nothing rattled the State as much as the Padmanabha murder case of June 1990. Padmanabha, leader of the EPRLF (Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front), along with a dozen of his associates was massacred in cold blood in Kodambakkam by Vellupillai Prabhakaran-led LTTE.

Rajiv Gandhi

Even before the State recovered from the shock and awe of the first organised act of political violence outside the Lankan soil, the Tamil tigers shook the conscience of Tamil Nadu, the peninsula and the whole world again in May 1990 by assassinating Rajiv Gandhi (Prime Minister — 1984 to 1989). The most high-profile political murder on Tamil soil till date, Rajiv’s killing, in a way, also exposed the fault lines in the political and ideological spectrum of the State. From suffering near political banishment to gaining political lifeline, Rajiv’s murder did a lot to the two major Dravidian parties in the State.

Leelavathi Kuppusamy

Locally, another political murder drove a wedge between two parties, DMK and CPIM, after communist councillor Leelavathi Kuppusamy was bumped off by men closely associated with local DMK functionaries in April 1997 as a result of political animosity. One of the accused, Marudu was a brother of DMK functionary SR Gopi, a close associate of then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s elder son, MK Alagiri. Leelavathi had defeated the wife of one of the accused in the municipal election months prior. Premature release of a few murder convicts in the case during Anna’s birth centenary celebrations in the subsequent 2006-11 DMK regime soured the ties between the two parties which revived their ties for the 2004 Parliamentary polls they swept as United Progressive Alliance.

Palani Baba

An equally spine-chilling murder was witnessed that year in Coimbatore. Popular Muslim leader and public speaker Palani Baba, who attempted to unify all Jamath’s in the State then, was murdered by 17 cuts while leaving his friend’s place in Pollachi. At least five persons associated with Hindu Munnani were awarded life imprisonment for murdering Baba, who had once rubbed shoulders with MGR and Karunanidhi equally.

MK Balan

In the 2001-06 AIADMK regime, the party’s ex-MLA MK Balan became a political talking point after he disappeared during a morning walk in December 2001. It took his son a habeas corpus petition in the Madras High Court to even ascertain that his father was killed in a failed extortion bid which landed 16 persons in prison for life.

Tha Kiruttinan

Two years later in May 2003, another morning walk turned disastrous for a high profile politician during the J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK regime. This time, it was former DMK Minister Tha Kiruttinan who was hacked to death by a bike gang. Over a dozen persons, including MK Alagiri, were arrested for the murder. The infamous case took a dramatic turn after a regime change in 2006. The case trial was transferred to Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. Alagiri and 12 others were acquitted in 2008 by the Chittoor trial court.

Aladi Aruna

The very thought of going for a morning walk gave nightmares to politicians after former DMK minister Aladi Aruna was gunned down in the early hours of December 2004, also during the AIADMK regime. A three-member gang fatally shot and hacked Aruna (Law Minister in 1996-2001 DMK regime) and his friend Ponraj during a morning walk, while his assistant Socrates escaped unscathed. Eminent educationalist SR Raja was acquitted in the case, which also saw the Tirunelveli session court award death penalty to the 2 accused. Raja successfully moved the Supreme Court and was acquitted despite suffering a setback in the High Court on an appeal moved by the State government.

‘Poondi’ Kalaiselvan

The delta region of Tamil Nadu was shaken by the murder of DMK district secretary ‘Poondi’ Kalaiselvan in Tiruvarur in November 2007. A powerful DMK functionary who had his own posse of bodyguards, popularly called ‘Ilaignar Padai’ (Youth Brigade), Kalaiselvan was killed allegedly by a network of business and political rivals, including ‘Kurangu’ Senthil, once a close associate of notorious gangster, Manalmedu Sankar, who was killed in a police encounter. Country bombs and sickles were the weapons of choice of Kalaiselvan’s killers, a pattern unique to many killings in the region once. The sensational murder sparked so much social tension that the authorities had to cancel trains between Tiruchy and Mannargudi then. At least six DMK ministers descended on riot-hit Tiruvarur, which was also the native of the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, to attend Kalaiselvan’s funeral procession. After a brief reprieve, the State witnessed to another former Minister’s murder in October 2010 — three-time MLA from Alangudi and former AIADMK Minister, A Venkatachalam.

KN Ramajayam

The most notorious of political murders was witnessed also in the AIADMK regime in 2012. KN Ramajayam, brother of KN Nehru, the current Minister of Municipal Administration, mysteriously disappeared during a morning walk, only to be found dead days later. A whale in the real estate sector, the ruling DMK paid tribute to one of its best event organisers by erecting a 90ft tall flag pole in one of its future zonal conferences. Shockingly, the crown jewel of political murders in the recent decades remains an Achilles Heel for the state police to this date.

‘Pottu’ Suresh, and others

The ignominy of political killings did not end in Tamil Nadu. On January 31, 2013, N Suresh Babu aka ‘Pottu’ Suresh, a close associate of MK Alagiri and member of the DMK’s high level committee, was hacked on his way back home, a day after celebrating his boss Anjanenjan’s birthday. Another Alagiri confidant, ‘Attack’ Pandi was arraigned as a prime accused in the case. Not so strangely, the DMK and AIADMK were not the only victims of political murders by and large. It was also in the penultimate reign of J Jayalalithaa that BJP State secretary ‘Auditor’ Ramesh was killed allegedly by Panna Ismail, police Fukrudeen and Bilal Malik. BJP leader Arvind Reddy’s murder in 2012 and Hindu Munnani leader Sasikumar’s murder in Coimbatore in 2018 are other noteworthy additions to the ignoble hit list motivated by greed for political power and monetary gains.