CHENNAI: A day after three men were arrested by the Greater Chennai Police (GCP) for their alleged involvement in six chain snatching incidents in quick succession on Tuesday, one of the suspects, Jaffar Gulam Hussain Irani from Maharashtra, was killed in an "encounter" by the city police on Wednesday morning.
Police said they had to shoot the 26-year-old in "self-defence" after he allegedly fired two rounds at the police from a country-made pistol hidden in the stolen bike he used to carry out the chain snatchings. The "encounter" happened when a police team investigating the case took him to a spot below the Taramani railway bridge to recover the bike.
Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police A Arun, who met the press on Wednesday, said the accused fired twice at the police, but no cop was injured. One of the police personnel fired back in self-defence, killing the accused, he said.
The other two accused are Misamum Dhusvasam Mesam Irani (28) and Salman Irani (22). Police said that Jaffer and Misamum snatched gold jewellery from six persons early on Tuesday morning in and around Saidapet before trying to escape by flight, when they were nabbed.
Salman, an accomplice, was nabbed with the help of Railway Police Force in Ongole station in Andhra Pradesh. He had boarded a train from Chennai to escape.
This is the fourth person to be killed in "encounters" in Chennai since July 2024 when Thiruvengadam, one of the key accused in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party state president K Armstrong, was shot dead by police when he allegedly tried to attack a police officer and escape.