K Armstrong

Some Lesser Known Facts About K Armstrong

• K Armstrong hailed from Perambur, Chennai.

• Armstrong was elected as Chennai Corporation Councillor in 2006 after which he organised a large public rally at Pulla Reddy Avenue in Aminjikarai, Chennai, where he invited Mayawati, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. The event turned out to be successful, and it earned him more support from Mayawati.

• After graduating from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati in 2009, he began practising law in the courts of Chennai.

• He contested the 2011 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections from the Kolathur constituency on a ticket from the Bahujan Samaj Party, but he lost the seat to M. K. Stalin.

• Armstrong greatly admired B. R. Ambedkar, a jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader and followed in his footsteps. He actively advocated for the rights of the Dalit community.

 

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• Armstrong often visited a Buddhist monastery near his home in Perampur. There, he met Porkodi, a lawyer, who also shared his interest in Buddhist culture and social activism. They were impressed with each other and soon fell in love.

• Initially, Armstrong was concerned that marriage might impact his political career; however, he later realised that Porkodi would be a source of strength for him. The duo later decided to get married and had a wedding ceremony according to Buddhist customs in 2016.

• Their daughter, Savitri Bhai, was named by Mayawati after Savitribai Phule, one of India’s first female teachers.

  

• On 5 July 2024, Armstrong was attacked by a six-member gang with machetes and country-made bombs while he was chatting with his friends Veeramani and Balaji at his under-construction house on Venugopal Swamy Kovil Street in Perambur. The attackers were disguised as Zomato food delivery agents.

• Armstrong was rushed to Apollo Hospital, located 10 kilometres away, by his family as his friends fled from the crime scene. Armstrong, however, was declared dead on arrival at the hospital due to excessive bleeding.

• Armstrong usually had a group of 10-15 people around him, but on the day he was killed, he was accompanied by only two friends.

• Armstrong always carried a nationally licensed Italian gun for protection, but he left it at home that day due to election rules requiring guns to be deposited with the police.

• Armstrong’s death soon sparked outrage and protests within the Dalit community and among his supporters. On 6 July 2024, BSP workers organised a protest outside the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, demanding a CBI probe.

  

• Armstrong’s wife later filed a petition seeking approval to bury him at the BSP office in Chennai. The Madras High Court, however, rejected the petition as the proposed site was a residential area and the space and pathway were inadequate. Instead, the court permitted Armstraong’s burial to take place at a private property in Pothur Village in Tiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu.

• After investigation, police officials found that Armstrong’s murder was revenge for the murder of Suresh, a native of Vellore, in August 2023.

  

• Suresh allegedly supported a gold trading company involved in a financial scam that cheated over a lakh depositors of Rs. 2,483 crore between September 2020 and May 2022. Armstrong supported some of the scam victims and promised them to recover their investments, which led to tension between him and Suresh.

• After further investigation into the case through CCTV footage, police tracked down attackers through mobile phone locations and bike registration numbers, which led to the arrest of eight people including Suresh’s brother V. Ponnai Balu (39), J. Santhosh (22), S.Thirumalai (45), K. Manivannan (25), K.Thiruvenkadam (33), and D. Ramu alias Vinoth (38).