In a shocking turn of events in the Chennai chain-snatching case, one of the accused was shot dead by police on March 26, in an alleged act of self-defence. The accused, identified as Jaffar Ghulam Hussain Irani, was gunned down after he opened fire on police, claimed Chennai City Commissioner of Police (CoP) Arun. Jaffar has more than 150 cases pending against him in Mumbai, police said. Mumbai Police sources also confirmed to TNM that Jaffar belongs to the notorious ‘Irani’ gang.
What happened?
On March 25, Jaffar Ghulam Hussain Irani and Misamum Dhusvasam Mesam Irani were arrested at Chennai airport while attempting to flee. The two men were accused of carrying out a string of chain snatching incidents earlier in the day. Jaffar and Misamum riding a motorbike, had allegedly targeted lone and elderly women, snatching their gold chains while one of the accused distracted the victims. The robberies led to widespread public anger regarding women’ safety and the two men were tracked down and nabbed within hours.
Addressing the media on March 26, CoP Arun said that Jaffar led them to an abandoned plot of land near the Taramani railway station in Chennai at 2:30 am, where he had allegedly hidden the stolen jewellery and the motorbike used in the crime.
Police claim that Jaffar grabbed a concealed country pistol from the bike and opened fire. According to an official press statement, Jaffar continued to fire at the police despite being warned to stop. In self defence police returned fire, they claimed. Jaffar was injured in the firing and rushed to a nearby private hospital, but died on route, police also claimed.
Jaffar’s body was sent to the Royapettah Government Hospital for postmortem and further investigation is underway.
The CoP told reporters that only three police personnel had accompanied Jaffar to the plot of land where he was killed. He added that six gold chains worth 26 sovereigns had been recovered. Police are also investigating if the motorbike, carrying a Karnataka registration, was stolen or belonged to the accused.
How police solved the crime
According to the press statement, CCTV footage from 56 locations were analysed after six chain snatching incidents were reported in Chennai on the same day. CCTV footage and preliminary investigations revealed that the accused hail from north India. Accordingly, airport and railway authorities were alerted, the police statement said.
The statement also said that airport authorities alerted police saying two men had attempted to buy tickets to Hyderabad at the last minute. One of them did not have adequate identification documents on him and was unable to purchase a ticket. Further, the Hyderabad flight was prevented from take off based on instructions from airport authorities. In the meantime, the accused who had not been able to secure a ticket to Hyderabad, bought a ticket to Mumbai. Both men – Jaffar and Misamum – were arrested at the airport, the statement said.
Further, according to the statement, interrogations revealed that a third conspirator, Salman Hussain, had boarded the Pinakini Express train from Chennai Central Railway Station. He was arrested in Andhra Pradesh’s Ongole station by Railway Protection Force (RPF). The accused had confessed to the chain snatching crimes, police said.
In his press conference, CoP Arun also said that Jaffar and the other two accused are part of an ‘Iranian gang’ from Mumbai and have multiple pending charges against them in local police stations. Out of three arrested, two were based in Mumbai while the other was from Bidar district in Karnataka.
Fourth extrajudicial killing since 2024
Jaffar’s death adds to the growing list of alleged “encounter” killings in Tamil Nadu, despite criticism from activists regarding police overreach and brutality.
Condemning the extrajudicial killing, Henri Tiphagne, Executive Director of the human rights organisation People’s Watch, told TNM that what is happening in the state is extremely concerning. “Extrajudicial killings are taking place when the Tamil Nadu Assembly is in session. This clearly shows the police have no respect for any one in authority. This is not only in Chennai, it's happening throughout the state. No action is taken against the police officers. The state government has failed on all fronts related to the police,” he added.
In the most high profile case of 2024, Thiruvengatam, one of the accused in the brutal murder of late Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tamil Nadu president K Armstrong was shot dead in July last year.
In September 2024, a history sheeter identified as Kakathoppu Balaji was shot in an extrajudicial killing. A week later, a second history sheeter known as ‘Seizing’ Raja was also shot and killed. Raja was initially believed to be a suspect in Armstrong’s murder, but police later clarified that he was not connected to the case. At the time, after his sudden arrest from his home, his distraught wife had released a video statement saying her husband had been with her on the day of Armstrong’s murder and that he was innocent.
Following the three killings last year, several human rights organisations including the Joint Action Against Custodial Torture - Tamil Nadu (JAACT) slammed the Tamil Nadu police and demanded that the state government put an end to the “encounter model of preserving law and order.”