Bootlegger steers into police station for safety

TIRUVANNAMALAI: In a scene straight from a Kollywood flick, a bootlegger, who was chased and attacked with bombs by a rival gang, drove into the campus of the Kezhil Kodungalur Police Station in Tiruvannamalai district, covered in blood. Rokki Ramesh, a notorious bootlegger and resident of Villupuram, was chased by his rival gang for nearly 30 km from Perumberkandigai village on Tuesday night.According to sources, Ramesh and Mano, who were into illegal liquor trade, operated from Villupuram and Puducherry and were rivals. Their rivalry worsened after Ramesh murdered two of Mano’s associates — Sankar and Ravi — a year ago.“Ramesh killed them by hammering nails into their skulls and chopped them into pieces because he suspected that they were setting a trap to eliminate him. Mano and his accomplice Thikil were waiting for an opportunity to take revenge on Ramesh. But, Ramesh surrendered in the murder case and was imprisoned. However, Mano’s gang killed Ramesh’s brother Karthick (27) on October 28, last year,” said Vandavasi DSP D Mahendravarman.After Ramesh came out on bail, he was living in Chrome­pet with his wife Deepa. However, Mano, who wanted to bump off Ramesh, invited him for a peace meeting. Upon arriving at the spot, Ramesh realised that it was a trap set up to kill him. Before he could react, Mano, Thikil and another accomplice attacked him with country-made bombs. However, Ramesh managed to escape in a car belonging to the rival gang and drove into the Kezhil Kodungalur police station. The cops took injured Ramesh to Vandavasi GH.