Gang that looted remote houses around Chennai wreaking deadly violence

On June 10, 1983, a dacoity was reported at Ennore. It was the beginning of deadly strikes in Chengalpattu, Tambaram, Guduvanchery, Chitlapakkam, Avadi, and Ambattur. Investigators found that a Delhi-based gang was behind it. Laxman Singh and five of his accomplices were awarded life imprisonment by the trial court at Poonamallee

On June 10, 1983, a dacoity was reported at Ennore, a northern suburb of Chennai. An armed gang had barged into an independent house shortly before midnight and robbed the inmates of their valuables. They attacked the men with iron rods, wooden clubs, and boulders to scare the women who offered no resistance and gave away the valuables.

Little did the Tamil Nadu police know that the daring robbery was the beginning of a series of deadly strikes in the Chengalpattu, Tambaram, Guduvanchery, Chitlapakkam, Avadi, and Ambattur areas, in and around the State capital. Between June 1983 and April 1984, 13 cases of dacoity were reported. The gang’s modus operandi was to break open the doors of houses located in remote areas with crowbars and mercilessly assault the residents.

As residents on the city outskirts were spending sleepless nights, pressure mounted on the police from the media, civil society, and political parties to apprehend the suspects. At this point, the gang hit its next target. It was the house of D.J.S. Chandra, a retired Commandant of the Tamil Nadu Special Police, in Avadi.

Attacked with rods

Chandra and his wife Daisy Chandra retired to bed after dinner around 10 p.m. on April 2, 1984, locking the front and rear doors. The couple woke up to loud thuds in the middle of the night. By the time Chandra was on his feet trying to understand the situation, two men had already gained entry into the house and were standing before him. When he tried to resist, they started raining blows on him with rods. Even as his wife was screaming for help, the other members of the gang joined and clubbed the retired police officer to death. They robbed Daisy Chandra of her gold jewellery and escaped.

The Director-General of Police transferred these cases from the local police to the Crime Branch-CID. The then Deputy Inspector-General of Police, K.K. Rajasekharan Nair, formed special teams to develop portraits of the suspects by interacting with the families of the victims and study the method in every case. Fingerprints found at the scene of crime did not match with those of habitual offenders in the State. The pattern of crime did not seem to match any dacoity in other districts or neighbouring States either.

Suggestion from retired officer

There were suspicions that the gang could have descended from northern States. M.L. Bhat, a retired police officer who was considered an expert in crime investigation, suggested that a team visit Delhi and study the cases of some criminals who belonged to the nomadic Sansi community.

Acting on his advice, a team, led by the then Deputy Superintendent of Police, J. Radhakrishnan, was formed to check the possible involvement of the gang in the dacoities in Tamil Nadu.

Accompanied by the then inspector, Mir Shoukath Ali, and others, Mr. Radhakrishnan landed in Delhi. The local police extended all cooperation to the investigators by sharing their criminal records with them. The finger and palm prints of the gang maintained at the Rajouri Garden police station were first examined, narrates Mr. Radhakrishnan in an article published in Indian Police Journal.

It was here that the first clue emerged. Fingerprint expert Syed Imam, who was part of the team, found that the palm prints lifted from the house of Chandra (the retired Commandant) were similar to those of Laxman Singh of Rajouri Garden. This was enough for the team to go after the accused and his associates.

Within three days, the investigators zeroed in on the hideout of Laxman Singh and arrested him. The gold jewellery robbed from Daisy Chandra was recovered from him. Soon after, his associates Channan Singh, Gurudeep Singh, Mewaram, Jayapaul Singh, and Karam Singh were apprehended.

The accused were brought to Chennai where they were detained under the Goondas Act. All the six accused were charged on October 10, 1985, before the Judicial Magistrate, Poonamallee. During the trial, 19 prosecution witnesses and Delhi police officers were examined. The accused were awarded life imprisonment by the trial court.

MLA killed

Ten years later, Tamil Nadu witnessed similar dacoities by a north Indian gang that targeted independent houses along the National Highways in northern districts. The gang killed a few people, including a sitting MLA and former Minister, Sudarsanam, of the AIADMK in Tiruvallur district.

After the involvement of local criminals was ruled out, the then Inspector-General of Police, S.R Jangid, who later retired as the DGP, led a team to several States and finally visited the Agra prison, where the fingerprint analysis once again helped in achieving a breakthrough. A fingerprint lifted from a scene of crime matched with that of an inmate whose name was also Laxman, a member of the gang belonging to the Bawaria community in Rajasthan.

Mr. Jangid and his team arrested several members of the gang and brought them to Tamil Nadu. Oma Bawaria and Laxman Bawaria were sentenced to death by a trial court. In popular culture, the Tamil movie, Theeran Adhigaram Ondru, showcased the operation against these criminals.

Published - October 01, 2024 10:45 pm IST