Notorious gangster and close aide of slain gangster Venkatesa Pannaiyar, ‘Thaathaa’ Senthil alias Senthil Kumar (54) was arrested by Chennai City police in a covert operation in Ambattur on Thursday.
Senthil, who was involved in nine murder cases, including the killing of Jacintha Pandian, wife of gangster Pasupathi Pandian, remained in hiding since 2011.
Sources with the Anti-Gangster Squad of Chennai City police said that Senthil was living in Kallikuppam in Ambattur posing as a realtor and was operating for about six months. Following specific information to Commissioner of Police S. George, Senthil was apprehended on Thursday evening when he was travelling in a car with his wife.
A native of Kudankulam, Tirunelveli, Senthil turned the most notorious gangster in the area with a strong base in Suchindram near Kanyakumari immediately after the killing of rival Lingam inside a Kanyakumari sub jail in 1996. He was the key operative in the killing of Jacintha Pandian at Eppothumventran on Tuticorin–Madurai National Highway, using country bombs, on April 7, 2006.
The attack was aimed at Pasupathi Pandian but he escaped.
In November 2011, ‘Thaathaa’ Senthil allegedly gunned down Arumugam, a forest guard and his wife Yogeswari in Suchindram following a suspected dispute over property.
He absconded after the killings leaving police teams combing for him in various parts of Tamil Nadu and also in Maharashtra, sources added.
Senthil has over 20 criminal cases pending against him and remained elusive for nearly four years. At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of a large knife which was found hidden in the grey hatchback, the police said.
He was remanded in judicial custody and sent to Puzhal prison on Friday afternoon. Investigators are likely to take him into custody for questioning, and Kanyakumari police would be quizzing him on the double murder.
He has remained elusive for nearly four years
