A special team of the Chennai city police on Saturday night arrested Ennore Dhanasekaran, a gangster who was wanted in several cases of extortion and murders.
The police said Kumaran, 48, a lorry driver with a private transport company in Manali New Town, lodged a complaint with the Manali police around 7 p.m. alleging that Dhanasekaran and two others waylaid him and robbed him of ₹2,460 at knife point.
Subsequently, a case was registered in the Manali New Town police station under seven sections of the IPC, including robbery and robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt.
Commissioner of Police A.K. Viswanathan immediately formed a special team, headed by Inspector Jawahar of Washermenpet police station, to investigate the case. The team nabbed Dhanasekaran within hours. The gangster sustained injuries while trying to flee in his SUV, the police said.
During interrogation, the accused reportedly confessed that he had been extorting money from companies in Ennore and surrounding areas for over a decade.
The police said that the gangster was the mastermind behind the murder of history-sheeters Kali alias Kaaleeshwaran of Ennore in 2004, Karuppu Raja of Red Hills in 2005, Periya Muthu at Ennore and Ashok (brother of Vadakarai Sakthi) in 2009 and businessman James at Minjur in 2018.
He has over seven murder cases, four attempt to murder cases and over 40 cases against him. He had been booked under the Goondas Act five times. The police are searching for his aides Thanjavur Mathi and Ulundurpettai Mumurthy. Dhanasekaran has been remanded in judicial custody.
