Chennai ,March 26,2025
A chain snatcher, apprehended by the city police on Tuesday (March 26) was shot dead in a police encounter near Taramani railway station early on Wednesday morning.
This is the fourth alleged encounter death in Chennai city after ,A.Arun assumed as the Greater Chennai police commissioner in July immediately after the murder of Tamil Nadu BSP state president,K.Armstrong on July 5,2024.
According to the police, 28-year-old Jaffer Gulam Hussain, a native of Uttar Pradesh, was arrested while he and his accomplice, Suraj, were at Chennai airport obtaining boarding passes for a flight to New Delhi on Tuesday.
The encounter occurred when the police took Jaffer to the area near Taramani railway station to recover stolen jewellery.
As they were about to recover the loot, Jaffer attempted to escape after attacking Inspector Buhari, when he shot at him.
Jaffer, who was already involved in nearly 50 chain-snatching cases, had been wanted by Maharashtra police since 2020.
Police said that he and Suraj, riding a motorcycle, had targeted eight victims, including morning walkers, on East Coast Road (ECR), Adyar, and Besant Nagar, stealing 16 sovereigns of gold jewellery worth approximately 10 lakh.
It may be recalled that after the brutal murder of BSP Tamil Nadu President K. Armstrong on July 5 ,the Chennai police killed three history-sheeters in alleged encounter operations.
The key accused in Armstrong ‘s murder , Thiruvengadam, who police claimed was directly involved, in the murder was shot dead.
The criminal was killed when he was brought to gather evidence at the Madhavaram lake premises. According to the police ,they were forced to shoot Thiruvengadam as he tried to attack them when his handcuffs were removed.
A few days later, another history-sheeter, Kakkathope Balaji, was shot dead by a Chennai police team at Vyasarpadi. Balaji had more than 60 criminal cases against him, and according to the police , he attempted to attack them, forcing the officers to fire in self-defense.
In another incident, Chennai police shot and killed a known underworld don, ‘Seizing’ Raja, who was arrested in Andhra Pradesh and brought to Chennai.
The SHRC has taken cognizance of these killings and has also summoned the Chennai City Police Commissioner , A.Arun.
It is noteworthy that Arun, after assuming office as City Police Commissioner, remarked during a media interaction on July 7 that the police would deal with rowdies in the language they understood.
