Three dead in turf war over ganja dealing

Police have so far arrested three persons involved in the incident and are on the lookout for other persons. Sources told DTNext that two main ganja peddling groups, based out of Kannagi Nagar, clashed with deadly weapons in the locality on Saturday night after one group found that the other group members were engaged in sale of ganja in their ‘jurisdiction’. 

Police identified the deceased as Kaliya alias S Ranjith Kumar (18), leader of one gang. Sources said that the rival gang of Ranjith Kumar, on learning that his group was engaged in selling ganja in their locality, attacked them with machetes. 

There was also an ongoing feud between the two gangs over organising a local temple festival, police sources said. 

Ranjith was hacked to death on the spot and the two critically injured, Chengottaiyan and Sakthivel, were rushed to the government general hospital. Sakthivel later succumbed to injuries. 

During the clash, a member of Ranjith Kumar’s rival gang, Sebastian Miller (23) tried to escape the assault by climbing up a drainage pipe of a multi-storied building in the locality. He slipped and fell to his death.

However, police said Miller’s death was not related to the gang war and that he had died early on Sunday morning while trying to climb up the water pipe in the building. 

Kannagi Nagar police have already arrested three persons — Jopidamani alias Manimaran (23), Dradcha alias Tamizharasan (20) and Tillana alias Arputharaj (23) — all hailing from the locality for the murder of Ranjith Kumar.