Chennai Police Commissioner Sandeep Rathore Transferred After BSP Leader’s Murder

The Chennai Police Commissioner has been transferred, three days after Tamil Nadu Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief K Armstrong was killed in Chennai. Sandeep Rai Rathore, an IPS officer formerly with the NDRF and CISF, will be replaced by senior IPS officer A Arun.

Mr Arun is presently Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order. Mr Rathore has been now appointed as DGP, Police Training College, Chennai. Davidson Devasirvatham has replaced Mr Arun as state ADGP, Law and Order.

Eleven men have been arrested for the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party’s Tamil Nadu chief in Chennai. Mr Armstrong was hacked to death by six men on bikes near his house on Friday. 

Police officials said this could be a revenge murder, linked to the killing of a gangster, Arcot Suresh, last year. A senior police officer told NDTV, “Arcot Suresh’s family have been harbouring suspicion that it was Armstrong who engineered the murder”.
On Sunday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said he had ordered the police to investigate the “shocking” murder “expeditiously”.

After his death, the BSP leader’s wife K Porkodi had filed a petition in court, seeking approval to bury his body at the party’s Chennai office. However, the Madras High Court ruled that he could not be buried at the party’s office in the state capital, backing the DMK government’s stand.

BSP chief Mayawati, who visited Chennai to attend the funeral for the leader, has demanded a CBI investigation into the attack. “I urge the state government, especially the CM, to ensure law and order in the state. The weaker sections, in particular, should feel safe. Had the government been serious, the accused would have been arrested. Since that is not the case, we urge the state government to refer the case to the CBI,” she said.