CHENNAI: A day after the daylight murder of history-sheeter Saravanan alias Prabhakaran, 30, who faced 40 criminal cases, in Kancheepuram, two suspects involved in the murder were gunned down in an early morning police encounter on Wednesday.
The deceased were identified as Raghuvaran, 38, and 35-year-old Basha alias 'Karuppu' Assain. Raghuvaran is a A-category rowdy involved in seven criminal cases, including three murders, while Assain is involved in six cases, including two murders. Police said the two attacked a team of policemen who had gone to apprehend them, and that they were shot in retaliation.
N Kannan, inspector general of police (north zone), who visited the injured policemen at Kancheepuram government hospital, said Raghuvaran and the murdered Saravanan had previous enmity. Search is on for two more suspects in connection with the murder, he said.
Kannan told TOI that rowdyism had been a problem in the industrial belt of Kancheepuram for a long time. Police have a list of about 375 active rowdies in the district, and they are being constantly monitored using legally permitted surveillance methods, he said.
It all began on Tuesday when history-sheeter Saravanan was murdered while returning home after appearing before a court and signing at Siva Kanchi police station in connection with an earlier murder case. CCTV recordings of the murder showed how the gang first tried to run him over with a car, and how when Saravanan escaped and took to his heels, two men wearing helmets got down the car, chased him and hacked him to death.
IGP Kannan said Kancheepuram district police had formed three special teams and launched a search for the assailants. "Since we tightened vehicle checks immediately, the culprits could not escape. They also abandoned the car near Oragadam. Of the three special teams assigned to comb the area, one led by Sub-Inspector Sudhakar received a tip off about two of the accused hiding at Indira Nagar railway gate. They surrounded Raghuvaran and Basha and asked them to surrender. But they began to attack policemen leaving special sub-inspector Ramalingam and constable Sasikumar with injuries," he said.
As his bid to restrain the suspects failed and the situation demanded sub-inspector Sudhakar fired at them in self-defence, said the inspector-general of police. One round each was fired at the suspects, after which they collapsed, he said. The injured policemen and the murder suspects were moved to an hospital, where Raghuvaran and Basha were declared brought dead.
Kannan said police were aware of the excesses being committed by anti-social elements in the zone, and added that cops were also aware of the reluctance of industry representatives to complain against rowdies for fear of trouble to their businesses.
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