CHENNAI: Actor Vijay’s blockbuster Master (2021) was about how gangsters using juveniles to either commit crimes or surrender for offences they never committed. It served twin purposes – one, the main culprit would remain untouched by law; and two, the juvenile could only be sentenced to a maximum of three years, irrespective of the gravity of the crime.Gangster N ‘seizing’ Raja, 51, who was gunned down on Monday morning, had a similar modus operandi for years, say battle-hardened police officers.
A fitness freak and karate master, Raja apparently had an army of about 300 juveniles under training. Recollecting one incident, an officer said that in the aftermath of the murder of DMK union secretary Aravamudhan near Padappai in March, police tracked a juvenile, in a school uniform, who maintained surveillance near the spot. Later, the juvenile and four others surrendered before a Sathyamangalam court in connection with the murder.
How did a Class IX dropout turn into a feared ‘seizing’ Raja? An officer said he worked for loan sharks in the early 1990s, tasked with tracing and seizing vehicles financed by them in cases of oan defaults. During this work for a commission, Raja got involved in cases of assault and then a murder.
His mentor was ‘Market’ Siva, 72, now retired after dominating the crime world in Tambaram, Perungalathur and Maraimalai Nagar on the fringes of an expanding Chennai. His legacy was continued by Padappai Guna and a few others including Raja. While Guna operated in the suburbs, Raja formed his team of juveniles and specialised in making ‘sketches’ to eliminate people. Most of the times, he would not go to the spot, but sketch out the target for field operatives.
Police say Raja had at least four families that he maintained separately. At the time of his arrest on Sunday, he was at a house at Rajampet near Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, with Jhansi, one of his wives, and two children.
Police say their target now is to identify his army of juveniles and dismantle it, less someone among fill the vacuum and emerge as the next headache for law enforcers.
