Avenging youth attacks father’s killer, chased off by dogs, held

CHENNAI: A 21-year-old man, who as a teenager saw a gang hack his father to death, on Monday night thought he was set to avenge the murder when he cornered one of the killers, but the target’s dogs forced him to flee. A woman police inspector later nabbed S Sanjeev Kumar of Ayanavaram and a court sent him to jail on charges of assault and possession of weapons.

In 2010, a police officer said, 13-year-old Sanjeev was going to school with his father T Sampath, a practising advocate, when four men accosted them near ICF East Colony. One of them held Sanjeev, while the others killed Sampath, who himself was involved in a few cases of crime and was detained under the Goondas Act. One of the killers, Karthik, had recently come out of bail, and Sanjeev decided to eliminate him, the police said.

On Monday night, Sanjeev’s friend Ganesh stood guard while he entered Karthik’s house and attacked him. Hearing his screams, Karthik’s dogs came chasing, forcing Sanjeev and Ganesh to flee. Some residents in the area called the police control room and the Secretariat Colony police were informed.

Later, around 11.30pm, Sanjeev and Ganesh, strolling near the ICF railway quarters in a stupor induced by ganja (marijuana), when inspector Rajeswari and constable Prabhu who were on night patrol identified them.

They managed to nab Sanjeev, but Ganesh escaped from the spot.

“Sanjeev had seen the gang hack his father to death and decided to take revenge. He is yet to come out of the traumatic experience as the murder happened infront of his eyes,” said a police officer.

The city police commissioner has lauded the police officers who nabbed Sanjeev.