History sheeter killed in Tamil Nadu in police encounter

    Chennai, Sep 18 (PTI) 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.
    Elaborating the sequence of the incident, Joint Commissioner of Police (North), Pravesh Kumar told reporters here that during vehicle checking at 4.30 am, police interpected a car in a north Chennai locality.
    The person who was at the wheel, later identified as 'Kakkathoppu' Balaji, sped away after another occupant, who was seated in front, hesitantly got out of the vehicle to answer questions about the contents of his bag.
    A police inspector, along with two other personnel, chased him in a vehicle. When the speeding car reached a place, it could not move any further as it was a dead-end street and when the officer tried to get down from his vehicle, the accused opened fire and the bullet pierced the windscreen.
    The inspector, while shouting at the attacker to stop firing, managed to exit his vehicle and at that time another bullet hit his vehicle. "Inspector fired a round and the suspect was injured (left side of chest) and he fell down. Immediately, he was rushed by the inspector to a government hospital where the duty doctor declared him brought dead."
    During inspection of the car, a big bag of Ganja (about 10 kilos) and a machete was found and it later emerged that the deceased person was Kakkathoppu Balaji who had 58 cases against him including six murders and 17 attempt to murder besides one over Ganja peddling.
    An FIR has been registered, a magisterial inquiry has been ordered over the incident and police personnel did not sustain any injury.
    To a question, the senior official said that police were not on the lookout for Balaji in regard to any specific case and no NBW was pending against him.
    The person who travelled with Balaji has been identified as Sathyamurthy and he has been arrested and his background is being ascertained.
    Asked if the encounter could not have been averted, Pravesh Kumar said action is determined only the situation and a country-made gun used by Balaji has been recovered.
    Speaking to reporters, Balaji's mother, has, however, alleged foul play.
    Thiruvengadam, another history sheeter and one of the accused in the murder of BSP state chief K Armstrong on July 5, 2024 was killed in a police encounter here days after the leader's murder.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)