CHENNAI: “Don’t ask anyone else the way you asked me,” responded a shocked autorickshaw driver, A Velumani, when asked about ‘don’ Sridhar and where he lived. Though it’s been three years since the ‘don’ left the place, some locals in Kancheepuram, hardly 75 km from here, are still afraid of pronouncing his name aloud. As Velumani regained his composure, he looked through the rear view mirror and asked, “Which Sridhar, are you referring to?” Upon clarifying that it was the ‘don’ involved in various land and money extortion cases, he whispered, “Though not in town, he keeps track of everything in Kancheepuram.”
With dozens of criminal cases against him and huge tracts of land he allegedly acquired by illegal means, Sridhar Dhanapalan, who has been underground since 2013, is believed to be in Dubai with his wife and son. Despite various attempts to trace him, the police have been unsuccessful. The state police refer to the man, who has assets worth nearly `100 crore in the temple town, as another ‘Dawood Ibrahim’.
Despite being hesitant at first, Velumani drove up to the beginning of Ellappan Nagar, where the house is situated, before refusing to go further. A short walk into the residential area leads one to a corporation park, and a few steps down the road bring one to two huge black gates that almost touch the roof. While one has four CCTV cameras, the other gate has two.
Behind these gates stands a two-storey building, where the don’s second daughter lives with her caretakers. They have two dogs, besides a guard in the house and two more on the street. The house is in one of the district’s posh localities where many government employees reside.
According to sources, footage from the CCTV cameras is regularly scanned by a three-member team. “People have been appointed to look after the dogs and keep a check on the girl and the house,” the source added. For neighbours, the building behind the gates as mysterious as it is inaccessible. “I lived here for about three years, but never went beyond those gates. I believe only Sridhar’s daughter and the housekeepers live there. At times, I see their dog tied to the gate. But nobody interacts with us,” said a washerman.
“The girl would travel on a bicycle accompanied by a man who would walk to buy fruits. But they hardly speak. Before I knew she was Sridhar’s daughter I asked if there were any caretaking jobs in the house, but was rejected,” said a fruit vendor nearby.