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Gangster ‘Rocket’ Raja, aides held in city
Swooping down at a star hotel in Chennai following an intelligence input, Chennai Police arrested ‘Rocket’ Raja, a notorious anti-social element from south Tamil Nadu, who is accused in a number of cases including murder and extortion. Four of his associates, too, were arrested from the hotel on Anna Salai during the operation on Monday.
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Chennai
Raja is wanted in a murder case in Tirunelveli in which a college faculty member was killed over a land dispute.
According to police, at least three of his associates who were nabbed were booked in connection with the kidnap of RSV Karthik Sethupathi, the foster son of Ramnad Estate heir Vijaya Nachiar, in December last year.
“We are not sure if the gang had come to the city again with a plan to do something in the same case. The gang members are being questioned in that angle also,” police noted.
Associates of Raja picked up by the police are identified as Sundar, Prakash and Sundar Raj of Tirunelveli, and Nandakumar of Thoothukudi.
“We have informed the Tirunelveli police about the development, as there is a murder case pending against him in the district,” a senior police officer revealed.
Police sources said Raja was arrested following an alert from the Organised Crime Intelligence Unit (OCIU).
The police team seized a gun from him. “The gun may be a licenced one, but it doesn’t belong to him. We are checking if he has licence to use the weapon,” police department sources said.
It may be recalled that Karthik Sethupathi, a resident of Alwarpet, was allegedly detained and beaten up at a hotel in Tirunelveli in December last year. Karthik had also alleged that the gang obtained his signature and thumb impression on sheets of white paper and stamp papers at gunpoint.
Raja’s men also threatened Karthik’s wife and children and took away antiques from Ramnad estate worth many crores of rupees, including a precious ivory Ganesha idol, from the latter’s residence in the city.
Apart from the murder of college professor, Raja was also accused in the murder of another criminal, ‘Katta’ Durai, in Chennai in 2001.
“That was a revenge murder for killing ‘Karate’ Selvin, mentor of Rocket Raja,” police recalled. In the Tirunelveli murder case, police had booked Raja along with his brother Bala Ganesan, who is a lawyer, and 10 others.
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