CHENNAI: In an early morning encounter on Friday, the Chengalpet police shot dead two men who had hacked to death two other men in a gangland killing on Thursday.
Police said they opened fire in self-defence after the murder accused hurled country bombs at them when surrounded in a forest area at Thirupulivanam in Chengalpet district. Two policemen were injured.
Those killed were identified as S Moideen, 23, and Dinesh, 24, both from Chengalpet. Police said the two and another man, Madhavan, had hacked to death M Karthik, 27, at the Chengalpet old bus stand on Thursday morning and then killed his cousin, Mahesh, after barging into his house nearby.
Police said Karthik and Mahesh had assaulted Dinesh a few days ago and he retaliated by murdering them.
Murder accused tried escaping, hurled country bombs at cops
Both gangs had been at loggerheads since 2018. The Kancheepuram police earlier arrested Madhavan and a woman, Jesintha, who got them the country bombs they used in the attack on Karthik.
Based on information the two provided, a team of police surrounded Dinesh and Moideen in the forested location along the Chennai-Trichy national highway early on Friday.
P Aravindan, Chengalpet SP, said the two tried to escape by throwing country bombs at the police. When the police closed in on them, they attacked the cops with machetes. Head constable Suresh and constable Bharath were left injured in the attack.
Inspector Ravikumar then opened fire, killing Dinesh and Moideen.
Moideen was involved in three murder cases, while Dinesh was involved in one case, police said.
