In a shocking piece of news, a DMK functionary was hacked to death by a mob in Chennai during the night hours of Tuesday - February 1. The gang of six people had attacked the functionary near the party's office in what has been alleged as a dispute over seat allocation in the upcoming urban local body polls.

The police have launched a probe and sifting the CCTV footage to apprehend the murderers. According to reports, the horrific incident has happened on Tuesday night in Madipakkam, Chennai. The deceased was identified as 48-year-old C Selvam, who was the DMK's Secretary of the 188th ward in Rajaji Nagar, Madipakkam.

On Tuesday at around 8.45 pm, Selvam exited his party office and from nowhere, the gang members, who had arrived on bikes, had surrounded him. Before Selvam flees the spot, the gang had brutally attacked him with weapons and left the place. Selvam was grounded on a blood pool as he was heavily bleeding. The reports say that he was unconscious when a few people saw him.

They had alerted the police about the incident and based on the information, a police team had arrived at the spot and took Selvam to a private hospital. However, he was declared dead by the hospital. His body was later sent to the Chromepet government hospital for conducting an autopsy. After the news of Selvam's death went public, his supporters had gathered in Madipakkam and begun broking the liquor bottles.

After realizing that tensions might escalate, the police department had deployed hundreds of policemen to the area to counter any untoward incidents. Several police officers are also been stationed near the residence of Selvam in Govindasamy Nagar. The police had put barricades in the street of his residence and brought the area under the control. The officials had launched a probe and have been gathering the CCTV footage to ascertain the identity of the assailants.

According to reports, the initial investigation has revealed that both Selvam and his wife Shameena were to be allotted seats by the party in the urban local body elections and police say that it could have spurred enmity on Selvam for his rivals. On the other hand, the police have also been probing the case from the angle of whether the dispute in the real estate business could be the reason behind the murder.