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Tension erupts in TN town over BJP leader's murder

Tension prevailed in Annamalainagar and adjoining areas in Tamil Nadu today when the body of BJP Tiruchirapalli (mofussil) district president Dr V Sridhar, who was murdered last night, was taken to his residence from the hospital after a post-mortem, even as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi ordered a crime branch (CID) inquiry into the murder.

The CB-CID will take up the investigation immediately, an official release in Madras said.

Meanwhile, all shops and business establishments on the entire 3km stretch through which the body was taken were closed. BJP volunteers wore black badges in protest against the killing.

Heavy police pickets were posted in all the vulnerable areas, including Annamalainagar, where the residence of Dr Sridhar was located, and mobile patrolling intensified.

Almost all the educational institutions in the city declared a holiday in the afternoon.

Earlier, members owing allegiance to the BJP indulged in Stone-throwing at Puthur Four Road junction in the city, in which the windscreens of some buses were damaged. Another group of BJP workers tried to force the shopkeepers to down their shutters near the hospital, but police chased them away.

UNI

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