CHENNAI: A 50-year-old notorious criminal, ‘Dokkan’ Raja was allegedly hacked to death by a yet-to-be-identified gang at Pallakuma Nagar in the Mylapore area on Sunday evening.

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, around 7.30 pm, Raja was walking along the bylanes in Pallakuma Nagar near Luz corner when a gang rounded him up and attacked him with weapons.

Raja ran for cover in one of the housing quarters but the gang chased him and hacked him, leaving him in a pool of blood. They fled the scene before the police arrived.

Raja was taken to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. Mylapore Police have launched a search for the suspects.

Raja had at least 27 pending cases against him since 2001. Most of the offences included attempt-to-murder, extortion and other serious crimes