CHENNAI:  Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday demanded a CBI probe into the death of her party's Tamil Nadu president K Armstrong, who was hacked to death in Chennai on Friday. She claimed those who have been arrested so far were not the real culprits and urged Chief Minister MK Stalin to refer the probe to the central agency to ensure justice for the victim. Mayawati, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, paid homage to Armstrong here and placed a wreath before the body of the 52-year-old leader at a private school in Perambur in the city.

Expressing anguish over Armstrong's death, she also said the way he was killed, by a group of assailants late in the evening, showed "there was nothing called law and order" in the state. Mr Stalin must ensure justice for Armstrong and transfer the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Mayawati said. "The way he was killed, shows there is nothing called law and order in Tamil Nadu. Those who have killed him, the real culprits have not been nabbed," she added.

"The real culprits have not been nabbed. Transfer the probe to CBI. We are not hopeful that the state government will ensure justice. So, refer the matter to CBI immediately," she demanded. The BSP leader further said Dalits all over the state were apprehensive following Armstrong's killing and urged the Chief Minister to ensure their safety. The BSP has taken the matter seriously, but party workers should not take law and order into their hands, she said.

Meanwhile, police investigation has found out that K Armstrong, the Tamil Nadu state unit president of the BSP was murdered in retaliation for the killing of a gangster, Arcot Suresh, in August last year, police officials have said based on their preliminary investigation. Armstrong, 47, was hacked to death by a six-member gang on Friday evening near Perambur in Chennai.

Suresh, a native of Vellore and a Dalit, was a known figure in Perambur but had a contentious relationship with Armstrong, officials said. According to investigators, Suresh allegedly supported a gold trading company involved in a financial scam that defrauded over a lakh depositors of Rs 2,438 crore between September 2020 and May 2022. Armstrong had supported some of the people who lost money in the scam, promising to retrieve their investments, leading to tension between the two, officials said.