Armstrong's murder, the arrest of 2 women, and the dark world of Chennai's gangsters

Investigations into the violent murder of BSP state president K Armstrong in the first week of July have shed light on the dark world of women gangsters in Chennai, their political links, and their life of crime and violence.

Even as Armstrong supporters held a rally in Chennai on July 21 evening, the police nabbed a key suspect, woman gangster Anjalai, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the BSP leader’s murder.

Murder details

The Greater Chennai police have arrested 16 persons in connection with Armstrong's murder so far, including Tiruvengadam, who was killed in a police encounter last week.

After Anjalai's arrest and inquiry, the police got more details on the murder and learnt about the various financial transactions and the two different plans chalked out to murder Armstrong with the help of paid assailants. One was to hack him to death and the other was to hurl country-made bombs at his car and kill him.

Sources said Anjalai, widow of Arcot Suresh, and Malarkodi, widow of Thottam Sekar, who had lost their husbands in rivalry wars, were responsible for the murder as they wanted to take revenge on Armstrong.

The involvement of women gangsters Anjalai, a B-category history-sheeter, and Malarkodi, a C-category history-sheeter, has become the talking point in the case now.

Armstrong's murder

Armstrong was murdered by an eight-member gang in Chennai's Sembium area, when he was overseeing the construction of his house on Venugopala Swamy Koil Street on July 5. Two persons, Tiruvengadam and Ponnai Balu, brother of the deceased gangster Arcot Suresh, surrendered within a few hours of the murder.

Within 48 hours, another six persons involved in the murder were held, and special investigation teams were formed to handle the case.

Following the murder and public outcry over the law-and-order situation in Tamil Nadu, Chennai Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore was transferred, and A Arun was appointed in his place.

Cracking the case

According to Puthiya Thalaimurai's senior crime reporter J Anbarasan, Arun has been directly involved in the investigation from day one.

"The several arrests and the collection of evidence, including mobile phones that were tampered with and thrown into River Cooum river have strengthened the investigations. The mobile phones were recovered using scuba divers and fire service department officials. The police also released CCTV footage of the murder which showed how Tiruvengadam and others attacked Armstrong with lethal weapons and hacked him to death in a few minutes," he said.

Not just Armstrong’s family members and BSP party supremo Mayawati, but many Opposition leaders in Tamil Nadu too alleged that the real culprits behind his murder have not been arrested.

But now, with the arrest of the two women gangsters, and the revealing of their political connections, the respective party leaders have quickly severed ties with them.

Two women gangsters

Sources said Anjalai, a BJP functionary, and Malarkodi, an AIADMK functionary, were both removed from their posts by their political parties. Both have been arrested in several cases earlier involving kangaroo courts, usury, and land grabbing.

Anjalai, suspecting Armstrong's involvement in the murder of her husband Arcot Suresh last year, allegedly wanted to take revenge. Malarkodi came into the picture when Arul, who is the brother-in-law of Arcot Suresh, sought her help to procure country bombs.

Malarkodi, who lost her husband in a gang war in 1997, raised her two sons and even completed her law degree in 2019. Arul was her classmate and her friend since her college days. She gave her son Azhuguraja’s G-Pay credentials to Arul to carry out financial transactions related to the murder.

So far, Chennai police have unearthed financial transactions worth ₹10 lakh related to the procurement of country bombs by Malarkodi. Also, they found evidence of the assailants receiving ₹15 lakh through Anjalai ahead of Armstrong's murder.

Anjalai also provided asylum to the assailants before Armstrong's murder.

Big-ticket transactions angered gangsters

When asked about the motive behind Armstrong's murder and how history-sheeters teamed up together to commit the murder, a senior police official on condition of anonymity told The Federal: "In a fortnight, we connected the dots of the revenge murder and the involvement of women gangsters in the case. Armstrong’s growth as a political heavyweight and his popularity in North Chennai led to the sidelining of other gangsters and their networks had shrunk. His involvement in many big-ticket money and land transactions in North Chennai and the neighbouring districts stopped their money flow and also affected their 'reputation' in the criminal network."

The officer said the rise of Armstrong as a famous Dalit politician in recent years despite having multiple criminal cases against him angered the gangsters. They were upset that he managed to clean up his records and continued to do business.

"Despite their past crime record and political connections, gangster networks came together for Armstrong's murder. We suspect a wide network beyond these 16 persons arrested so far. It can be bigger. We are waiting for a big breakthrough in this case. Investigations are underway to find the loopholes. A serious inquiry is on with a convict in Vellore prison who has links with Anjalai, who could give more details," revealed the officer.