On Wednesday, Advocate Ashwathaman was arrested in the murder case of K. Armstrong, the BSP state chief in Tamil Nadu. The police identified Ashwathaman as the son of Nagendran, a notorious local goon and history-sheeter currently serving a sentence in Vellore Central Prison. Ashwathaman, who is also linked to the Youth Congress, becomes the 22nd individual to be arrested in the ongoing investigation.
The police made the arrest after receiving critical information from individuals already apprehended during the investigation. These revelations led authorities to Ashwathaman, who was implicated in the murder of Armstrong. Following his arrest, the Tamil Nadu Youth Congress expelled Ashwathaman from the party and stripped him of his primary membership.
The murder of K. Armstrong (53) took place on July 5, when he was shot in front of his under-construction house on Venugopal Swami Koil Street, Perambur, in Chennai. Armstrong had been embroiled in a long-standing feud with Arcot V. Suresh, who was murdered in August 2023. This enmity stemmed from the Aarudhra investment scam, a controversial financial scheme that defrauded investors of crores of rupees.
Suresh, who had represented the interests of the promoters of the Aarudhra scam, was opposed by Armstrong, who sided with the investors who lost money when the scheme collapsed. This tension between the two was central to the conflict that ultimately led to Armstrong’s murder.
As part of the investigation, eight individuals were initially arrested, including Ponnai Balu, the brother of Arcot V. Suresh. One of the accused, Thiruvengadan, was killed in a police encounter on July 14 when he allegedly attempted to flee after opening fire on the police during an operation near Madhavaram in Chennai. The police had brought Thiruvengadan to recover the weapons used in Armstrong’s murder.