The adage, ‘Live by the sword, die by sword’ came true for a 30-year-old gangster, Bharath of Virupachipuram in Vellore, who was involved in two murders, a few attempts to murder, and extortion.
Ironically, he was hacked to death by a member of his own gang on Tuesday night, following a verbal duel. Bharath was killed by Maha (alias) Mahalingham and Kuppan (alias) Sathish Kumar, near a cement godown in Katpadi.
Bharath along with Maha, who were on the list of top five notorious rowdies in the district by the Organised Crime Intelligence Unit (OCIU), were involved in several murder cases. The two came under police surveillance following the murder of Sankar, in 2009, in Sathuvachari.
Bharath, who was returning on Tuesday after appearing in a murder case in Cheyyar, was picked up by Maha and Kuppan from a TASMAC outlet near Palace Cafe. They left in an autorickshaw of one their associates, Ramu (30) of Gandhi Nagar. They continued drinking till about 8 pm, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Katpadi K Radhakrishnan said.
They then left the wine shop by the autorickshaw and stopped near the cement godown.
“A heated argument erupted between Maha and Bharath after the former asked the latter to help him financially. Maha and Kuppan attacked Bharath with sickles and killed him,” the DSP said. Ramu was arrested on Tuesday afternoon and the hunt is on for Maha and Kuppan. “Ramu dropped Maha and Kuppan by his autorickshaw at the new bus stand after they eliminated Bharath,” he said.
Maha was leading a quiet life since his rival Vasur Raja and his gang members had attempted to murder him inside the Vellore District Court complex on April 16.