CHENNAI: Notorious criminal and history sheeter 'Ennore' Dhanasekaran was arrested at gunpoint from a star hotel in Guindy by a special team of the Avadi City police on Thursday morning.
The police seized a country-made pistol and a luxury car from his possession. Two of his associates, identified as Manavalan and Tamilanban, were also arrested.
The police said that they were on the lookout for Dhanasekaran after a complaint from a government contractor, who claimed that the history sheeter demanded Rs 1 crore from him and threatened him of dire consequences in case of non-compliance. The threats were conveyed through his associates, police said.
The Kattur police registered a case under eight sections, including criminal intimidation, and a special team traced him to the star hotel in Guindy where he was apprehended.
Dhanasekaran is an A+ category history sheeter with over 50 criminal cases pending against him, including nine murder cases, kidnapping, extortion and other serious offences. He is also an accused in the 2018 murder of a thermal power plant contractor, James.
The history sheeter has been accused of extorting money from industrialists and factory owners in and around Ennore. He has been detained under the Goondas Act five times and was also named in the case of the 2023 petrol bomb attack on the residence of a deputy jailer.
The police said further investigation is under way to ascertain the source of the seized firearm and the accused's involvement in other extortion cases.