A country-made handgun in possession of a 20-year-old student of a private engineering college on OMR was recovered by police from his rented house in Injambakkam on Wednesday. He was arrested after he allegedly brandished the weapon to a cook following a row.
Joint Commissioner of Police (South) K. P. Shanmuga Rajeswaran said the suspect, Pratyush Pandey, a native of West Champaran in Bihar, is a second year student of ECE. “We have seized the handgun and its four bullets that he procured three months ago from Sailash Yadav, also hailing from Pandey's native village. Yadav is known to be a college admission broker and Pandey is suspected to have assisted him,” Mr. Rajeswaran said.
A search is on for Yadav by Chennai police teams who have camped in Bihar as part of the investigations to identify the bank robbery suspects killed in police encounter, in order to trace the origin of the weapon Pandey possessed.
It all began on Saturday night when cook Ranjit Kumar (21), also a native of Bihar, residing and working in Palavakkam, went to the first floor house on 5 Cross Street, Cheran Nagar 2 Avenue where Pandey was residing with college-mates Sekar Anand (21), Sudheer Singh (21) and Rahul Kumar (20), all from Bihar.
“Ranjit had gone to collect a pending salary of Rs.1,200 on behalf of his brother Surjit Kumar who used to work as a cook for the students. The four youths assaulted Ranjit and he fell unconscious. He gained consciousness only the next morning and was threatened at gunpoint by Pandey to leave the house,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (Neelankarai), P. Uma Sankar.
On Wednesday evening, Ranjit he came to the Neelankarai police station and narrated the incident, Mr. Sankar said.
A police team reached the house on Wednesday night and seized the handgun and bullets hidden in a cupboard. While Pandey was arrested on charges of possession of firearms, Sekar Anand was arrested for assaulting Ranjith. Sudheer Singh and Rahul Kumar were also booked for assault but are yet to be arrested, police said.
