History-sheeter shot dead by Chennai Police in third 'encounter' since July

'Seizing' Raja, who was arrested from Rajampet in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday evening in connection with a case relating to extortion at a bar in Velachery, died when he was taken by the police team to recover his weapon, which he had hidden in Akkarai on the East Coast Road.

Chennai: 'Seizing' Raja, a history-sheeter and a notorious criminal against whom 39 criminal cases were pending, was on Monday killed in an 'encounter' by the Chennai police when he allegedly attempted to attack the cops accompanying him.

This is the third such encounter by the Greater Chennai Police after ADGP A Arun took over as its chief in July following the murder of state BSP chief K Armstrong, inviting strong criticism from human rights activists.

Raja, who was arrested from Rajampet in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday evening in connection with a case relating to extortion at a bar in Velachery, died when he was taken by the police team to recover his weapon, which he had hidden in Akkarai on the East Coast Road.

"'Seizing' Raja fired two rounds at the police party using a country-made revolver which we recovered from his hide-out. The bullets from his pistol damaged the car door and windshield and that is when Velachery Inspector Vimal had to fire gun shots at Raja. It was purely a self-defence move," Sibi Chakravarthi, Joint Commissioner of Police (Chennai South), said.

The police officer also dismissed reports that Raja was wanted in the Armstrong murder case in which police have already arrested over two dozen people, a majority of them lawyers and history-sheeters. "As far as our information goes, the slain accused is in no way related to the Armstrong murder case," he added.

The "encounter" came a day after Raja’s wife, holding her child, alleged in a video expressing fear that her husband would be killed by the police following his arrest. However, Chakravarthi said such “video messages” have now become a trend with wives of history-sheeters recording videos and sharing them on social media immediately after their arrest.

"It was dark and the inspector had no option but to save himself and the police team. Hence, he fired two bullets at Raja," the police officer added.

Raja, who had a total of 39 cases pending against him with six of them relating to murder, was recently declared as a proclaimed offender and a wanted criminal by a local court for failing to respond to summons.

The encounter comes just a week after Chennai Police killed ‘Kaakathoppu’ Balaji at a secluded place in Vyasarpadi in north Chennai. In July, days after Arun took over as the Chennai police chief, history sheeter K Thiruvengadam, who was arrested in connection with Armstrong murder case, was killed in an encounter.

Immediately after taking over on July 8, Arun had said Chennai was not new to me and that his job will be to maintain law and order, prevent crimes from happening and curbing rowdyism. “We will teach them (rowdies) in the language they understand,” Arun had said, in a veiled reference to police encounters.