History-sheeter hacked to death in Chennai, police nab 3 accused

The history sheeter was chased and hacked to death by a six member gang on Friday near Pattinapakkam in Chennai.

Forty-four-year-old Suresh, popularly known as Arcot Suresh is a history-sheeter with over 50 criminal cases registered against him in several police stations across Chennai. Suresh, who belongs to the Pulianthope area of the North Madras, has a criminal record of seven murders, 25 attempts to murder and over 38 other criminal cases against him.

Suresh, who is considered one among the 'A+ rowdy' categories by the Chennai City Police, has been arrested and sent to prison under the Goondas Act for over 15 times.

Due to the severe death threats that he was receiving constantly by his opponents, it is said that he had moved permanently to Thiruvallur and Vellore districts. On Friday, Suresh had appeared before the Egmore Crime Court for a case trial, following which he along with his friend Madhavan and his advocate had gone to the Loop road in Pattinapakkam area near Marina Beach.

A six-member gang that followed Suresh suddenly attacked the latter with dangerous weapons like machete and sickles. Suresh, who tried to escape, was chased down and hacked to death by the gang members. His friend Madhavan also sustained injuries during this attack.

Upon learning about the incident, the Pattinapakkam Police immediately rushed to the spot and took both to the Royapettah government hospital where the doctors declared Suresh dead. Meanwhile, Madhavan is currently being treated for injuries and Suresh's body was then sent for autopsy.

The six-member gang quickly fled the scene immediately after hacking Suresh down. Police have directed a Special Investigation Team ((SIT) to arrest the accused.

On the wee hours of Saturday, within 12 hours after the incident, the SIT arrested three people from the six-member gang that hacked Suresh to death. The arrested three have been identified as Yamaha Mani, Jayabalan and Chandra. During investigation, it was revealed by the accused that they allegedly murdered Suresh as a retaliation for murdering Athi Thennarasu in 2015.

According to police sources, Thennarasu's brother Bomb Saravanan had devised a plan to murder Suresh. Police are still taking efforts to nab the other three absconding members involved in the murder.

Who is Arcot Suresh?

The popular rowdies of Chennai, few decades ago, were considered to be history-sheeters Ayothikuppam Veeramani and Bunk Kumar. They were replaced by another popular history-sheeter Rowdy Chinna. Gangster Arcot Suresh allegedly murdered Rowdy Chinna and became the most wanted rowdy in Chennai in the past decade. Suresh who originally hails from Arcot in Ranipet district used the word Arcot in his name for better identification.

Initially, when he moved to Chennai, he was working in catering business where he met Sugu with whom he allegedly got involved in the 2002 Vijayawada murder, post which he was arrested for several other murder cases. In 2010, he rose to prominence when he allegedly murdered the then number one Rowdy Chinna and his advocate Bhagavat Singh.

In 2021, Chennai City Police arrested him and his gang members at gun point in Pulianthope and sent them to prison. Later, Suresh came out in bail and relocated to Vellore district. On August 18, when he appeared for a court hearing, he was hacked to death by his opponents.