An Inspector of Police Soorakumaran opened fire after an armed gang went on a spree of damaging vehicles in Kamarajapuram under the Keeraithurai police station limits here on Thursday night.
However, none was injured, the police said. The police arrested eight persons.
The police said that the gang, led by S. Kalimuthu, attacked the house of former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam zonal chairperson of Madurai Corporation V.K. Gurusamy on NMR Road. After damaging the window glass panes of the house that remained locked from inside, they smashed the windscreens of two vehicles parked outside his house. The armed members also damaged a showcase of a petty shop near his house. The incident occurred at around 9.45 p.m. Later, they started smashing vehicles parked on the road.
They intercepted an autorickshaw passing through the spot and smashed its windscreens and also assaulted the driver Nagaraj, who sustained cut injuries on his hands and head.
Meanwhile, as the Keeraithurai police arrived at the spot, the gang attempted to flee, before warning the police personnel with dire consequences if they attempted to catch them.
As they were trapped in a dead-end, the gang members, numbering around 12, scaled the terrace of a house in their attempt to escape.
The police said that Mr. Soorakumaran opened three rounds from his service pistol. However, none of them was injured in the firing.
The police team nabbed three persons — Mohan and Udhayakumar of Villapuram and a polytechnic student — on the spot. Later, the city police launched a manhunt and nabbed five more persons.
The police said that a gang war between Mr. Gurusamy and a former AIADMK zonal chairperson Rajapandi led to the attack. It led to at least eight murders here in the last few years. Gurusamy’s relative Katturaja was the last victim, who was murdered a few weeks ago at Perungudi.
