Chennai, Feb 2 (IANS): In a gruesome incident of alleged political violence, a gang of six people hacked to death a DMK functionary at Madipakkam on Tuesday night. It is alleged that dispute over seat allocation for the ensuing urban local body elections is the reason behind the gruesome murder.

The deceased, identified by the local police as C. Selvam (48), was the secretary of the Rajaji Nagar, 188th ward. He was attacked by a group of bike-borne assailants at around 9.45 p.m. when he came out of his office in Rajaji Nagar, Madipakkam, Chennai.

Police rushed to the spot and took bleeding Selvan to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead. The body was shifted to Chrompet General hospital for Postmortem.

Local people gathered around Selvam's home and his supporters created a ruckus by breaking liquor bottles and throwing them on the road. Police barricaded the entire area and prevented further escalation of violence and damage to properties including shops and establishments in the surrounding areas.

Police are verifying the CCTV visuals of the local shops and other establishments to ascertain the identity of the assailants who escaped on bikes immediately after the attack.

According to police, Selvam and his wife Shameena were to be allocated seats in the urban local body elections and this is pointed out as the reason for the attack. Police are also ascertaining whether any real estate dealings were also behind the motive to attack Selvam.

A local level DMK functionary, Nagaraj. K, from party Chennai central office told IANS, "Selvam was a popular leader in the area and we have to ascertain the reason behind the murder. Police are on the lookout for the killers and will soon arrest them. We can understand the motive only after investigation. As far as seat allocation is concerned, it was not finalized and the party high-command is to take a call on the same."