Lakshmikanthan murder case
The Lakshmikanthan murder case was a high-profile criminal trial that was conducted in the then Madras Presidency between November 1944 and April 1947.
The suspects included Tamil film actors M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and N. S. Krishnan and director S. M. Sriramulu Naidu.
His foray into journalism began in 1943 when he launched a film weekly called Cinema Thoothu which was extremely successful, due to extensive columns devoted to the personal lives of some of the top actors and actresses of the day.
[2] Eventually, matters reached a standstill when Bhagavathar, Krishnan, and Naidu submitted a memorandum to the Governor of Madras, Arthur Oswald James Hope, requesting him to revoke the license for the magazine.
[citation needed] Unfazed, Lakshmikanthan set up a new magazine called Hindu Nesan in which he continued his scandalous stories on Bhagavathar, Krishnan and a few other top actors, actresses and film people of the day.
[3] Film historian and author Randor Guy writes that Lakshmikanthan had a dark past with a criminal record.
[4][5][6] In the morning of 8 November 1944, Lakshmikanthan paid a visit to his close friend and lawyer, J. Nargunam, who lived in Vepery, a suburb in Madras.
En route during return to his residence at the Venkatachala Mudali Street in Purasawalkam, another Madras suburb, by a hand-rickshaw at 10:00 (IST) in General Collins Road, he was attacked by a group of unknown assailants — one of whom stabbed him with a knife.
[7] The bleeding Lakshmikanthan managed to garner enough strength to walk to the lawyer's house, who listened to his description of the incident, and then sent him to General Hospital, Madras in the company of his friend, Brew.
On the way, Lakshmikanthan requested the rickshaw-driver to stop at Vepery police station to file a complaint against the assailants.
Profusely bleeding and unable to move, Lakshmikanthan dictated his description of the incident while sitting in the rickshaw while inspector Krishnan Nambiyar wrote it down on a piece of paper.
After this inspection, Lakshmikanthan's condition reportedly grew serious and he died at 4:15 a.m. (IST) on 9 November 1944 due to secondary shock caused by damage to the kidney.
