Cops had kept tab on gangsters for six months

A special police team carried out an operation here on Thursday and killed two history-sheeters, Saguni Karthick and Muthu Irulandi, in an alleged encounter. 

According to the FIR registered in the Alanganallur police station, Sellur police inspector Manivannan had shot at the victims when they tried to attack the police team with a gun. 

Madurai SP N Manivannan too said that the accused had a country-made pistol and to safeguard themselves, the police had shot them. However, new details showed that the encounter did not happen on that day but the event was well planned and executed by police. 

Police sources said that at the time of the incident, five including a woman were present at the house in Sikkender Chavadi and it was under Police scanner for close to six months. The house that belonged to a person called Maya Kannan was first visited by Saguni Karthick and Muthu Irulandi before six months and since then police started watching the house. 

Read more: Two history-sheeters killed in an encounter in Madurai

On the day of the incident, a special team of 10 policemen from Chennai entered the house well before the incident and cornered all the five members present in the house. After making suitable arrangements, the special team gunned down the accused from point blank range, said a source. 

Another police source in Madurai city police said Sellur Police took the responsibility of gunning down the two history-sheeters despite the fact that a team from Chennai carried out the operation. Also, the Chennai team wrongly identified Maya Kannan with another Maya Kannan, originally based in Chennai, who has six murder cases pending against him. 

Only after entering the house the special team realised that the Maya Kannan they had been chasing was different, but still secured him. Later, he was made to surrender in the Virudhunagar Court. If the Chennai Maya Kannan was present, the encounter count would have increased to three, said sources.