Armstrong: Dalit leader Armstrong attacked by assailants in Chennai | News from Chennai

Chennai: The last five minutes of 52-year-old Armstrong’s life flew by at 7 pm on Friday night near his under-construction house deep in a densely populated residential area on Venugopal Swamy Koil Street in Perambur. The attackers, three of them disguised as food delivery men, looked like the backs of their hands. They were already standing at the scene with backpacks and pretended to look at Google Maps on their mobile phones. Three others, in trousers and shirts, managed to approach Armstrong and called him “Anna”. When Armstrong turned to speak to the strangers, the men disguised as food delivery men pulled machetes from their pockets and started raining blows on the Dalit leader. Soon the trio joined them. According to eyewitnesses, the first blow came from behind and landed on his left cheek. Before Armstrong could turn around, the second hit him on his left ankle, immobilising him and preventing him from running away. They then concentrated on driving off Armstrong’s three supporters – his brother Veeramani, driver Abdul Gani and a friend Balaji – by attacking them on the head, shoulders and hands. They pushed the trio into a 10-foot-deep pit dug at the construction site and continued attacking Armstrong on his back and right hand as he tried to protect himself. They only let go of him when he collapsed motionless, said one of the supporters, who was among the first to rush to help him when he heard the commotion. The attackers, about half a dozen to nine in number, then escaped on three motorbikes they had already strapped on. The ease with which they entered the narrow, densely populated residential area and fled suggested they had been conducting a reconnaissance, police said. Neighbours kept windows and doors closed as noise usually came from the construction site where concrete was mixed daily. Workers at the site would also leave at 6.30 pm. Sources said Armstrong had kept his pistol in his car parked a few metres away from the site. Armstrong, who lived in an apartment complex on KH Road in Ayanavaram, had visited the site around 3.30 pm last week and spent at least four hours playing carrom and meeting his supporters at his street corner office. One of the accused, Thirumala, an auto driver, noticed this routine of Armstrong and alerted the attackers. The gang also had homemade bombs with them as a plan B, police said.