A special team of the Chennai Police on Wednesday night apprehended a four-member gang in Egmore and seized lethal weapons from them. The suspects, who were wanted by the police in connection with murder cases in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts, had allegedly come to Chennai to meet a State Minister, police sources said.
Acting on a tip-off, Commissioner of Police J.K. Tripathy formed a team to conduct a surprise check on the lodge near the Egmore railway station. The police team found the gangsters in a room and they were in possession of the weapons. They were whisked away to an undisclosed place where a senior police official interrogated them.
Police sources said the four men who hail from southern part of the State were involved in various murder cases in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin and the respective police teams were on the lookout for them for a while now.
One is a suspect in four murder cases, another in two and the other two are accused in one case each. They are being questioned on the purpose of their visit to city and whether they had come here for some ‘assignment,' sources added.
A senior police official said the four men would be handed over to the Tirunelveli police for further investigation.
The police had stepped up security in the city following the explosion of a bomb in the vehicle of an Israeli diplomat's car in Delhi on Monday. Hotels and lodges were inspected and the guests questioned as part of security measures. Following the detention of the four gangsters, police parties have been placed on further alert in the city, sources added.
