Two history-sheeters, who were reportedly involved in Thursday’s double murder, were gunned down by the police near Mamandur in Chengalpattu district on Friday morning.
The dead were identified as Deena alias Dinesh, 24, and Biscuit alias Mohammed Moideen, 20, of Chengalpattu.
Santhosh Kumar, Inspector-General of Police, North Zone, who visited the spot, said: “When our special team tried to round up the suspects at a forest adjoining the Palar at Irunkundrampalli, they threw bombs and attacked it with knives. Our inspector opened fire in self-defence.”
Deena and Moideen were part of a six-member armed gang which murdered two rowdies — Appu alias Karthik, 30, of K.K. Street and Mahesh, 24, of Mettu Street — on Thursday night in Chengalpattu.
Around 7.20 p.m on Thursday, the gang members, riding two motorcycles, surrounded Karthik near a tea shop at Old Bus Stand. They hurled country bombs at him and hacked him to death in public.
The gang then went to the house of Mahesh, a vegetable vendor and an associate of Karthik, on Mettu Street, and hacked him to death while he was watching television. Dispute over a love affair was said to be the reason behind the two murders.
M. Sathyapriya, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Kancheepuram Range, said Appu's friend Harikrishnan was in love with Deena's elder sister. As Deena opposed it, Appu and Mahesh assaulted him in 2018 and warned him not to interfere in the matter. A case was registered and the duo faced trial in the judicial magistrate court. The two asked Deena to withdraw the case. Angered over this, Deena and his friends allegedly murdered the duo on Thursday night.
Three special teams were formed to nab the killers. At dawn on Friday, Madhavan alias Madu, 25, and Jessica, 26, wife of Ashok who was a member of the gang, were nabbed in Thirupulivanam forest area. Based on their information, the team tracked down Deena and Moideen.
Superintendent of Police P. Aravindhan said: “When our team surrounded them, they threw two bombs at our personnel. One did not explode and another fell on the ground. They attacked two policemen with a knife. In self-defence, inspector Ravikumar fired at the accused.”
The police were interrogating Madhavan and Jessica. Efforts were on to nab the remaining members of the gang, Mr. Aravindhan said. The police were also investigating as to how the accused procured country bombs.
The two bodies were sent to the Government General Hospital for post-mortem.
