‘Vasool’ Raja wanted to be a politician

Chennai: ‘Vasool' Raja, 38, who was hacked to death by a gang on Tuesday, had political aspirations and hence was keen to clear all criminal cases pending against him, according to police sources.
Police said he was involved in at least 28 cases, including four murder cases. A Raja christened himself as ‘Vasool' Raja, inspired by Kamal Haasan's character in ‘Vasool Raja MBBS'. Raja turned into an anti-social and worked under Thiagu, a close associate of the slain gangster Sridhar Dhanapalan. After a clash with Thiagu, Raja worked for the former's rival Nivas Khan in Kancheepuram. After Sridhar Dhanapalan's death in Cambodia, Thiagu's arrest, and gang members being rounded up by police, Raja dreamed of becoming the next don of Kancheepuram.
Raja's first murder was that of Nivas Khan in 2018, police said. He then got involved in three more murders. He also got busy in extortion and illegal kangaroo courts in Kancheepuram district. As he planned to enter full-time politics, Raja stayed away from new criminal activities for the past four years and, instead, attended court proceedings to clear all pending cases against him. Police have so far detained seven people, including three college students, for inquiry in connection with Tuesday's murder of Vasool Raja. Two more people, who are suspected to have prepared the country-made bombs and supplied them to the assailants, are absconding. A police team questioning the suspects said it was a "revenge murder".
Raja was hacked to death on Tuesday by a gang while he was chatting with his friends in Kancheepuram. Police tracked down the suspects with the help of CCTV footage. They have, however, withheld the identity of the detained people.