Cop held for aiding A-category rowdy

A 35-year-old Armed Reserve constable attached to Sunguvarchathram police station has been arrested by Kancheepuram police on charges of aiding history-sheeter Guna alias ‘Padappai’ Guna, an A-category rowdy element, in his illegal activities.

The arrest comes two days after the State government posted encounter specialist ADSP S Vellaidurai in Kancheepuram to control the kangaroo courts that fleece manufacturing units in the district.

Police said Venkatesan favoured Guna in threatening a woman to grab her land last year and a hunt has been launched for two more police personnel who were in touch with Guna and helped him in his illegal activities.

Guna, who was arrested in August last year on the charges of criminal intimidation, has been absconding after he came out on bail. Venkatesan too has been arrested on the same charges and remanded in judicial custody after he was produced before the magistrate in Sriperumpudur on Saturday.

Police said Guna wanted the woman’s property for Rs 2 lakh her father borrowed from him.

Guna (41) of Maduramangalam village near Sriperumpudur has more than 25 cases including murder, attempted murder, kidnap and extortion in Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram districts.

Officials said many among the 600 big and small manufacturing units and other factories in Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu have been facing trouble from the criminal gangs, including those part of the scrap mafia that controls the trade that runs into hundreds of crores of rupees. However, fearing their wrath, not many of the victims came forward to file complaints.

Vellaidurai has been part of many encounter killings that happened in various districts in the State in the last 25 years. He was a member of the Special Task Force of TN police that gunned down forest brigand Veerappan in 2004. In Chennai, he was part of the squad that gunned down gangster Veeramani in 2003 when K Vijay Kumar was the Commissioner of Police. He was also part of the encounter team that operated in Tiruchy in the late 90s.