34-year-old advocate was allegedly shot dead by his client, Eesa alias Eswaran, a history-sheeter, in Mahabalipuram on Sunday night.
The police claim they have nabbed Eswaran who has been previously involved in many other murder cases.
The victim Kamesh, an advocate, a resident of Besant Nagar, is married and has a four-year-old child.
According to his brother-in-law Dhinakaran, a doctor, he had left home at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning. “He said that he was going with Eswaran to Puducherry to collect his fees,” said Dhinakaran, speaking to The Hindu.
After this, he called his wife around 9.30 p.m. and told her that he was nearing Mahabalipuram and that he would call back in an hour. “Around midnight, Kamesh’s friend arrived at my house in my son’s car and brought Kamesh who was badly injured. We immediately rushed him to a private hospital. But he succumbed to the wounds,” added Dhinakaran.
Selvam told the family that Kamesh, who had rung him around 10.30 p.m., informed him that Eswaran had shot him and left him bleeding near Mahabalipuram. “Selvam rushed to the spot and brought him to home,” claimed Dhinakaran.
“We tried getting some CCTV footages from the toll gates on ECR, but it can be obtained only with police permission,” he added.
Sources say that Kamesh was shot on his left leg and the bullet has passed out from the right hip. “Kamesh did not own a gun. We suspect it belongs to Eswaran. But we want the police to thoroughly investigate this case as something seems to be fishy here,” said Kamesh’s father Srinivasan.Kamesh’s friends who were shocked on hearing about his death arrived at the mortuary. “He has been practicing law for the past four years and was initially a junior lawyer helping many senior advocates before he began working independently,” said one of his friends.
Meanwhile the post mortem was completed and the body was handed over to the family in the evening. The Mahabalipuram police have registered a case and are investigating the same. “Eswaran initially said that he shot Kamesh by accident near Mahabalipuram, but later he said that he committed the crime in Marakkanam near Puducherry. We are investigating this angle,” said a police officer.
The police, however, say that both were drunk during the incident. “We don’t think it was an accident. We are investigating whether it was instigated by someone else or it was due to a quarrel between the two. It is an unlicensed gun. Eswaran said that the gun was given to him by Kamesh,” the officer added.
The mystery of the smoking 9mm gun
Statistics of National Crime Records Bureau may project Chennai to be safe with very few cases under the Arms Act when compared to other metro cities.
But, Sunday’s shooting in Mahabalipuram with 9 mm pistol is a cause of concern, note security experts.
Only five incidents under the Arms Act have been recorded in Chennai during 2014, however Bangalore has 15, Delhi has 720, Mumbai has recorded 205 and Kolkatta has seen 219 incidents. However, in Tamil Nadu a total of 275 cases have been reported under the Act and 172 arms have been seized during the same year.
Though sale of guns in the city is not easy, senior police officers suspect that the weapons may have been smuggled from Northern States. “On Sunday, Kamesh is suspected to have been shot by Eswaran with a 9 mm gun. This type is called a ‘prohibited bore’ gun and is used only by armed forces and the police. It is not given to civilians, even to those who have a valid licence,” said a police source. According to the source, there are country-made guns available in northern India that can fire 9 mm bullets. “But the projectiles cannot be locally made. It can be purchased only from ordinance factories. In case the lawyer was shot with such a cartridge, it should have been stolen or procured from the black market. Such bullets are available in Maharashtra, and must have come from there,” he added.
Besides, other officers feel that it is not easy to fire such guns without proper training. “There have been unconfirmed reports of guns being hidden inside logs and smuggled into the state from North India. We are investigating such reports,” added an officer.
