The Hindu : Pannaiyar group member a gunrunner?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Pannaiyar group member a gunrunner?

By S. Vijay Kumar

MADURAI, JAN. 20. The incident at Virudhunagar on Sunday, in which a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) employee was shot at by one of the two members of the Tuticorin-based Venkatesh Pannaiyar group, has given a new lead, indicating regrouping of a well-organised criminal gang in southern districts.

Police sources said P. Dhanasingam alias Seenivasan of Eral, was a top gunrunner and had links with clandestine weapon dealers. During preliminary interrogation, he confessed to having purchased twenty 9-mm (semi-automatic self-loading) pistols, two 7.62-mm pistols and one stengun from Hemanth Singh of Jamalpur in Bihar late last year. (The Chennai police arrested Hemanth Singh in Bihar soon after the death of Venkatesh Pannaiyar last year).

Dhanasingam, a henchman of the group, was involved in several offences. In 1992-93, he was lodged in the Tihar jail, Delhi, where he developed links with criminals. In recent years, he emerged a successful arms supplier to criminals.

After Venkatesh Pannaiyar was shot dead in a police encounter in Chennai on September 26, 2003, a core group, including Dhanasingam, fled to Mumbai and remained under ground.

He returned to Tuticorin in December and was proceeding to Madurai on an "assignment" when the police arrested him, the sources said. More arrests were likely soon, they said.

Fourth firing in public

A special team of the Chennai police, which arrived here yesterday, confirmed the role of the gunrunner in Pannaiyar's activities and said this was the fourth time he opened fire in public.

Though Dhanasingam claimed to have used the weapon for "self-defence" in view of persistent gang rivalry, the police believe that he was indulging in `katta panchayat' and other anti-social activities.

"We are pursuing in consultation with the Chennai city police the links of Dhanasingam with other gangs. The Superintendents of Police in the southern districts have been put on alert," the Inspector-General (South Zone), T.K. Rajendran, told The Hindu.

Meanwhile, Dhanasingam and his associate, V. Sonai alias Sorimuthu, were produced in a Tirumangalam court and remanded to judicial custody.

Cases under IPC Sections, including 307 (attempt to murder) and 25 (1) (b) of the Indian Arms Act, were registered against the duo.

The Director-General, I. K. Govind, announced a cash award for the highway patrol team which nabbed the two members.

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