CBI takes over investigation in Armstrong murder case
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally taken over the two-year-old probe into the murder of the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Tamil Nadu president K
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally taken over the two-year-old probe into the murder of the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Tamil Nadu president K. Armstrong, who was hacked to death by a gang near his residence in Chennai on July 5, 2024. “We have formally handed over the case files to the CBI. The move follows the withdrawal of the Special Leave Petition filed by the State in the Supreme Court,” a senior police officer confirmed to The Hindu on Friday (July 31, 2026). The CBI was expected to re-register the case in a couple of days, police sources said. Legal saga The case was initially investigated and charged with by the Greater Chennai Police.
However, it was transferred to the CBI by the Madras High Court on September 24, 2025 in response to a petition filed by the BSP leader’s brother K. Immanuel, who sought a CBI probe as the local police had allegedly failed to investigate the case properly. Justice P. Velmurugan pointed to certain lapses in the investigation and said many criminal cases ended in acquittal because of the flaws in the investigation, adding that the case before him was a classic example. The court also quashed the 7,411-page chargesheet filed by the Greater Chennai Police in the case. The contention of the prosecution was that a thorough investigation was done in the case and a chargesheet laid against 30 accused persons.
The petitioner relied on a Supreme Court ruling that the High Court could still transfer the case to the CBI if it was not satisfied with the probe by the local police. After the Chennai Police Commissioner filed a Special Leave Petition against the order, the Supreme Court stayed the ruling of the Madras High Court. However, the stay was limited to quashing the chargesheet. The order transferring the probe to the CBI would continue to remain in operation, the top court said. Since the case files were not handed over to the CBI, Armstrong’s wife, Porkodi Armstrong, filed a petition in the Supreme Court in November 2025, alleging that the State of Tamil Nadu had not handed over the probe papers to the CBI.
Prime suspect killed in ‘encounter’ An eight-member gang had surrendered before the Anna Nagar police station a couple of hours after the murder. Based on further investigation, the police arrested a few more accused persons in the case. One of the prime suspects, K. Thiruvengadam, who was taken into police custody for interrogation was killed in an “encounter” after he allegedly escaped from custody and tried to attack police when they zeroed-in on him at a remote location near Madhavaram.
The BriefWire