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Papri Sri Raman in Madras
Tamil Nadu's capital appears to have become the newest turf for criminal gang wars.
Incidents over the past week have city residents wondering whether the local police are geared to tackle the situation. The police have been unable to prevent murderous attacks even in court complexes.
Most of the gang killings took place in the heart of the city. On Sunday night, a 41-year-old gangster, Jaffer Babu, was hacked to death in the Lloyds Road area by a rival gang.
Babu, reportedly a reformed criminal who ran a betel store, was the brother of alleged gangster Yusuf. Police say Yusuf was the real target of the rival gang's attack, led by Vairam.
On coming to know of his brother's brutal murder, Yusuf attacked the rival gang and seriously injured Govindasamy, Vairam's brother-in-law. Police say they have arrested Yusuf and several members of his gang but are yet to find anyone from the Vairam gang.
On Monday, in broad daylight, alleged gangster Shanmugam was attacked while under police guard in the Madras High Court complex, where he was to appear before a judge as prime accused in a case.
Shanmugam was kidnapped from the court complex and taken to the Ayodhyakuppam area on the Marina, notorious for harbouring gangsters. He was then attacked with sickles and is currently battling for life in the Royapettah government hospital.
A rival gang led by Veeramani has been blamed for the attack.
Police say that special teams are searching for the Veeramani gang and its den was raided, but the culprits are still absconding though they were identified in the court complex itself.
On October 23, Nagendran, who was out on bail, attacked a police team.
Police Commissioner K Muthukarruppan said his gang was riding on a Toyota Qualis and was stopped at a police check post. Nagendran slashed at a police officer with a knife and managed to escape though another gang member was arrested.
Just two weeks ago, Bombay Sekar, another notorious goon, was killed in a gang war. Ganesh and Stalin, two known gangsters, were also killed in gang warfare in the city in recent times.
The revamped city police appear unable to cope with the increasing number of such incidents on Madras's streets. Questions are beginning to be asked as to what had emboldened the gangs all of a sudden to begin striking at rival groups so openly.
Indo-Asian News Service
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