Chennai

Thanikachalam is an accused in over 20 cases, including murder and attempt to murder, officials said.

Thanikachalam alias Thanika had been dodging the police by not using any electronic gadgets or bank accounts for the past one year. After Sridhar committed suicide in 2017, his gang split into two factions, which battled one another to gain supremacy in Kancheepuram. One of the factions is led by Dinesh, who used to be Sridhar’s personal driver, and his partner Thyagarajan alias Thyagu. The other gang is headed by Thanikachalam, Sridhar’s brother-in-law.

After two men from Dinesh’s gang were murdered in Tiruvallur in December last year, the police had arrested more than 40 men from both factions. While Dinesh and Thyagu are now in prison and detained under the Goondas Act, Thanikachalam went underground and remained untraceable for nearly a year. Finally, the special team traced Thanikachalam to a hideout in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and arrested him on Friday.

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