CHENNAI: A
turf war
between two gangs in Kancheepuram saw a supermarket vandalized on Wednesday night, sending shoppers scampering for cover.
Police suspect it's part of a fight for supremacy between two factions of deceased don Sridhar's gang. The gangs, one led by Sridhar's brother-in-law Thanikachalam and the other by his driver Dinesh and his partner Thyagarajan, have been at loggerheads ever since the don's death in 2017.
While Thanikachalam was arrested about a year ago, Dinesh and Thyagarajan who were in prison for the last two years were released on bail a few months ago. Before his arrest, Thanikachalam had taken the gang's illegal businesses and kangaroo courts while Dinesh was in prison, police said. On Wednesday, a group entered a supermarket and vandalised it. The supervisors were told to pay monthly protection money and staff were threatened with machetes. The CCTV footage of the incident went viral on Thursday in which the customers were seen running for cover. The attack took place after the owner refused to pay 'mamool', police said.
Later the gangsters went to the house of Prabhu, in Indra Nagar, and threatened his wife and assaulted his sons when they could not find him. Prabhu had split from Dinesh after his arrest. The gang also attacked two men who had leased a plot of land near the lake in Siruvakkam village without paying commission to Dinesh and Thyagarajan, police said. The duo were admitted for treatment.
Police have detained five people and launched a hunt for Dinesh and Thyagarajan.