Underworld don Binu, who escaped the Chennai police’s net at his birthday bash on 6 February, has surrendered to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ambattur on Tuesday. The don, who had escaped when 100 police officers gate crashed the party, surrendered to the police a week after his escape.
An official who led the operation told TNM:
He just surrendered. We will be interrogating him now. He will be remanded at the Mangadu police station. He was very afraid. We had cornered him in various places. We know how they will react.
A video confession of Binu explaining why he surrendered was leaked to the media. In the video, Binu says he had gone underground for three years and hoped to reform himself.
He goes on to say that it was at his brother's insistence that he came out of hiding.
“The Chennai police chased me wherever I went. That’s why I directly came to surrender. I want to be forgiven this one time – I am not a big rowdy like you think,” says Binu.
Binu, who has over 28 cases against him and had been absconding for two years, was being welcomed back to Chennai by his friends and associates, with a party to celebrate his 47th birthday last week.
Around 200 criminals including henchmen and sub-bosses, who had cases ranging from murders and abduction to extortion, were gathered at Velu Lorry Shed, a truck shop off the Outer Ring road.
‘Operation Birthday’, as it has been named, had around 100 police personnel surrounding the spot, near Malavambakkam village. Some even swam or rafted across the Chembarambakkam lake.
The police received the tip-off on the party during a routine vehicle check, when they intercepted Pallu Madan, who was riding to the party.
He was taken away for interrogation when the police realised that Madan was involved in an assault and extortion case. Madan then revealed that the party was to begin at 9 pm. He was released by 6 pm and the police formed over 60 special teams and arrived in Malavambakkam by 11 pm.
Speaking to TNM soon after the operation, Chennai city police commissioner AK Viswanathan had said:
The police team had only half an hour to plan the operation. We had arrested a gang member in another case and he revealed that this birthday celebration was being planned. Four people escaped but we managed to catch 75 people at the venue. Of this, two were juveniles and three were people who were present but not involved in any criminal activity.
"P Binu was one of the few people who escaped from the venue. We have already sent police teams to get hold of him. One hundred police officers were involved in this operation," Commissioner Viswanathan had said.
The police held 40 men at gunpoint over 9 hours and detained 60 others after chasing and nabbing them as they fled the birthday party. 76 of the men were sent to jail and the others were let off. The police even seized 4 cars, 45 motorcycles and even swords and sickles from the arrested.
(This article was first published in the News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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