CHENNAI: City Police on Tuesday arrested seven persons- all in their early 20's in connection with the brutal murder of notorious criminal. 'Dokkan' G Raja in Mylapore last Sunday evening.

Investigations by Mylapore police have revealed that Raja was killed for a murder he was involved in 20 years ago, in 2003.

Raja is said to have plotted a plan for the murder of one Kathiravan in Mylapore in 2003. Kathiravan's son, K Naresh Kumar (23) of Kannagi Nagar along with his friends murdered Raja, to exact revenge for Naresh's father's murder, police said.

Naresh's accomplices- M Sabarinath (24), R Rajesh (20), M Aswin (25) - three from Veppampattu in Thiruvallur district, G Karthikeyan (25), P Palani (22) from Pallakuma Nagar, Mylapore and G Manojkumar (21) of Thirunindravur were arrested by the Mylapore Police.

The deceased, Raja was long associated with history-sheeter, CD Mani and was last arrested by the city police in December 2022, after which he came out on bail. At the time of his arrest, media reports stated that Raja was also a functionary with the Tamil Nadu BJP's youth wing.

On Sunday evening, around 7 30 pm, Raja was walking along the bylanes in Pallakuma Nagar near Luz corner to attend a wedding in Santhome when a gang rounded him up and attacked him with weapons. Raja ran for cover in one of the housing quarters and the gang chased him and hacked him to death.

According to the police, Raja has at least 27 pending cases against him since 2001 and most of the offences include attempt to murder cases, extortion and similar cases.