'Irani' gang member involved in chain snatching spree opens fire at Tamil Nadu Police, shot dead

Chennai: Jaffer Gulam Hussein Irani, belonging to the notorious Irani gang of robbers based in Maharashtra, opened fire on a police team here on Wednesday, and they returned fire, in which he was injured and he was later declared brought dead by hospital authorities, police said.

Addressing a press conference on the arrest of three-Irani gang members on Tuesday and the incident involving the death of one of them on March 26, ADGP-Greater Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun said Jaffer had hidden a pistol inside the motorcycle he used for chain snatching incidents. "He tried to escape by attacking the police; the pistol was hidden inside the bike," he said.

The motorcycle was abandoned here before Jaffer and two others tried to fly out of Chennai after committing the crimes.

Meanwhile, a Chennai city police statement said that at about 2:30 am, Jaffer, as part of probe to recover robbed jewellery and the vehicle used to perpetrate the crimes, was taken by police to Taramani Railway Station area. Suddenly, the accused took the country made pistol from inside the motorcycle and opened fire on the police team.

"Though officials warned him not to fire at them, he did not heed the advice. There was no other choice and police shot at him and he was injured. He was rushed to a private hospital, and a doctor declared that he was brought dead," the police press release said, adding an investigation was on in this regard and that the body had been sent to Government Royapettah Hospital for autopsy.

Commissioner Arun, explaining the series of chain snatching incidents and the arrest (on March 25) of 2 accused persons --Jaffer Gulam Hussein Irani and Mizammza Irani-- within a matter of 3-4 hours, said that between 6 am and 7 am, six chain snatching incidents were reported in south Chennai areas including Saidapet on March 25, 2025 and hence, vehicle checking was intensified across the city.

Based on previous incidents in neighbouring Tambaram, the role of gangs from outside of Tamil Nadu was suspected and accordingly, airport, railway station, parking lots of MetroRail stations were checked and CCTV footages were examined and the identity of some accused persons were fixed and two accused were arrested at the airport within hours.

A third accused, Salman Hussain Irani, who boarded a Hyderabad-bound train at Chennai Central railway station following the crimes, was arrested at Ongole in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh with the help of RPF and jewellery snatched in the six incidents were recovered.

"One of the accused (Jaffer Gulam Hussein Irani) managed to get into a Hyderabad-bound flight and we managed to arrest him and the ticket was purchased at the last moment," the top police official said. Probe established that two persons, who were in a haste, had tried to buy flight tickets to Hyderabad and one of them got a ticket and boarded the flight.

Officials were duly alerted and the flight was stopped from taking off. A police inspector arrested the accused inside the Hyderabad-bound flight. Another person, who was ready to fly to Mumbai, was also arrested. When they were questioned, they disclosed the involvement of a third person and he was arrested in Ongole.

All the three accused belong to the big, notorious "Irani gang," who were mainly concentrated in and around Mumbai and its nearby areas and carry out crimes across the country.

The commissioner said these Irani robbers years ago had earned notoriety for "attention diversion crimes," and their involvement in chain snatching has now been found. Two of the accused arrived early morning on Tuesday and they used the motorcycle (Karnataka-Bidar registration) provided by the third accused and it has to be ascertained if the vehicle was bought or stolen. "This is a big gang as per information from Mumbai police," Arun added.