Chennai police held eight suspects in connection with the case four hours after the murder. The accused were identified as Ponnai Balu, S Thirumalai, K Manivannan, K Thiruvenkadam, D Ramu, J Santhosh, G Arul, and D Selvaraj, police said, adding, five of them were history-sheeters. Balu is the brother of slain history-sheeter ‘Arcot’ Suresh who was murdered in August 2023. Rathore said they are probing the murder as a retaliation killing, but declined to divulge into further details, citing ongoing investigation. He said the chances of the murder being a political killing were “very less”, though they are investigating the political rivals Armstrong had made. Rathore did not give any specific answer when asked if the police were tracking Balu and others after Suresh’s murder to prevent the possibility of a revenge killing. He also denied rumours that the accused had surrendered to the police and gave credit for the arrest to the intelligence section.
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