History sheeter killed in Tamil Nadu in police encounter

Chennai: A history sheeter, with over 50 serious criminal cases against him, was on Wednesday shot dead after he opened fire at them to resist arrest, police said.

The accused, 'Kakkathoppu' Balaji, in his late forties, was an absconder and evading arrest for quite some time. Based on a tip-off about his hideout, when a police party inspected an area at Vyasarpadi in busy north Chennai, he was spotted.

At the same time, the accused, having noticed the police team, opened fire at them and in an act of self-defence, they had to return fire, in which he died, an official said.

The cases against him include murder and other serious criminal offences.