The crackdown on the birthday party of history-sheeter Binu Pappachan brought to the public eye the undercurrents of the Chennai underworld that portended a violent outburst of gang rivalry; Chennai police say they are on guard and peace will reign in the city

On the evening of February 6, a group of plainclothes officers from the anti-gangster squad was waiting in an alley in Madipakkam to nab the notorious gangster C. D. Mani. They had company. Lurking in the shadows was a gang of rowdies headed by ‘Pallu’(teeth) Madhan. They too wanted to pounce on Mani to finish him off. When Madhan saw the police, he fled but the police gave a chase and caught him.

‘Pallu’ Madhan’s cell phone wouldn’t stop ringing as the police interrogated him. When the police made him pick up the phone and talk on speaker phone, they learned about the grand birthday party being planned.

The crackdown on over 100 rowdies, small as well as big, who had gathered at Malayambakkam village, nearly 30 km from the city, made headlines all over the country. It seemed to send out the message that the Chennai police were indeed cracking down. Police sources say the scale of operation was next only to that of the 2015 crackdown on Columbia Point Dawgs — a notorious gang in Boston, U.S. That incident boosted the confidence of the people of Boston in their police.

The police action at Malayambakkam blew the lid off what had been simmering in the underground but was happening largely outside the glare of the media. It was a battle for money, power, and, ultimately, control over the Chennai underworld.

The police are confident of keeping the gangsters in check and say they have ramped up operations. “It was an attempt at regrouping. At the first attempt itself, we nipped it in the bud. We will ensure that it does not happen again,” said Chennai Police Commissioner A. K. Viswanathan.

Why the party

The birthday boy — middle-aged history-sheeter Binu Pappachan who claimed to be ill and suffering from diabetes — is the lead character of what has turned out to be a real life gangster movie.

Binu started off by selling tea and running a welding shop in Choolaimedu. However, he aspired for more, and crime was his chosen path. Beginning with petty offences, he graduated to committing murders along with his friend ‘Sketch’ Allaudin, holding kangaroo courts mainly in his locality, Arumbakkam, MMDA Colony and Anna Nagar.

“In 2012, his trusted aide Radhakrishan, who was thirsty for power, left him and joined the gang of Nagendran, who is the present boss of bosses. Since then, there has been rivalry between the two of them and their gangs,” said a senior police officer.

For the past three years, Binu, who claims to have reformed, was in hiding in Karur. “Not seeing action and denied cash, his gang members, including ‘Sketch’ Allaudin, Appunu and Kuttivalavan, left him and joined his arch rival, Radhakrishnan. This angered Binu and the aides he still retained,” added the officer.

Police claim that Binu wanted to regain the power he had lost. “Based on advice from his friends Kanagu and Vicky, the birthday party was organised. At the event, they were planning to discuss how they could bump off gangsters like C.D. Mani, ‘Kakathoppu’ Balaji, Radhakrishnan and even Nagendran,” claimed an officer.

Extortion and revenge

The enmity, according to police, among gangsters is mainly over sharing of extortion money, revenge murders or gaining power over the other’s territory.

“The enmity between Radhakrishnan and Binu is over money. The fight between C.D. Mani and Radhakrishnan and even Binu is over power. Mani has a hold on the real estate business in the city. He threatens and extorts money from businessmen. He travels in high-end cars like the Jaguar,” a senior officer said.

The hostility between Radhakrishnan and T. P. Chatram Dakshinamurthy is over revenge murders. “There have been attacks on both the sides,” adds a police officer.

Police claim that Kakathoppu Balaji has a running battle with the 55-year-old boss of bosses of Chennai, Nagendran from Vyasarpadi. Balaji wants to take Nagendran’s place, say the police. “Nagendran controls everything from prison. He is a role model for aspiring rowdy elements,” added the officer.

New gangsters

Decades ago, names such as ‘Boxer’ Vadivelu, Ayodhya Kuppam Veeramani, Asai Thambi, ‘Vellai’ Ravi, ‘Bokkai’ Ravi and ‘Punk’ Kumar were much talked about. North Chennai became synonymous with rowdyism as many of these gangsters used to live there. “After these rowdies were either shot dead by the police or died a natural death, a new breed, that grew up seeing them, came to the fore in the city,” said a senior police officer. Some of the notorious rowdies now are Nagendran, C. D. Mani, Binu, Radhakrishnan, Mylapore Sivakumar, ‘Kadhukuthu’ Ravi, Kanagu, ‘Kalvettu’ Ravi, Kakathoppu Balaji, Adaikalaraj, ‘Seizing’ Raja, Tambaram Surya and ‘Dog’ Ravi. “There were frequent detentions those days. Between 2001 and 2003, we detained nearly 1,000 rowdies. It was team work. The teams were directly monitored by Joint Commissioners. Every rowdy was monitored,” said K. Vijayakumar, who was the City Police Commissioner when Ayodhya Kuppam Veeramani was shot dead.

R. Nataraj, Mylapore MLA and former Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu, said more rowdies should be detained under the Goondas Act. “During my tenure, I used to ensure that the rowdies were paraded on the streets after being arrested,” he said, explaining his technique of naming and shaming.

Dedicated squad

Police say gangsters are lying low because of the effectiveness of the 21-member anti-gangster squad. The squad is monitored directly by Chennai Police Commissioner A. K. Viswanthan and is headed by Additional Commissioner, Central Crime Branch (CCB), M.T. Ganeshamoorthy and Deputy Commissioner S.R. Senthil Kumar. Assistant Commissioner Stephen supervises the team. “The notorious ones and the gang leaders are categorised as A+. There are over 40 of them in the city and the suburbs, but most of them are either in jail or are lying low. Their right hands fall under A category and the B and C categories are in the lower rungs,” said an officer from the anti-gangster squad. The gang ropes in women officers from the CCB to shadow women gang members. “We get threats over phone, but our job is to keep the city clean of criminals and we are doing our best,” added an officer.

Villains, not heroes

A big grouse of the police is that Tamil films portray rowdies as heroes and create a soft corner for them among the common people. “We came to know that an upcoming movie about North Chennai is about a gangster in Mylapore. The film fraternity and the censor board should not encourage such movies as they set a bad example for the youth,” said a senior police officer. He said that a committee, comprising a senior police officer, a judge, a member of the public and one from the film fraternity should view the movie first before sending it to the censor board.