Three members of the Bawaria gang are escorted to the Chennai Sessions Court on November 21, 2025 for the pronouncement of the verdict in the murder case of AIADMK MLA K. Sudarsanam. | Photo credit: M. Srinath
Almost 20 years after former minister and AIADMK MLA K. Sudarsanam was shot dead by a gang near Chennai, a city sessions court on Friday (November 21, 2025) convicted three members of the Bawaria gang on charges of fraud and murder for profit. The sentence will be announced on Monday (November 24, 2025), Judge Abraham Lincoln said.
In the early hours of January 8, 2005, the gang descended on the house of Sudarsanam, 57, then sitting MLA for Gummidipoondi, at Thanakulam near Periyapalayam in Tiruvallur district. While one stood outside holding a gun, the other members smashed the front door with an ax and began attacking residents with iron rods. Sudarsanam’s son Satish Kumar (28) was the first to wake up and was attacked. Hearing his cry, Sudarsanam came down from his room and tried to stop the six assailants from attacking his son. He was shot with a single-barreled muzzle-loading pistol. He died on the spot. Another son, Vijay, was locked in a room.
The gang made off with cash, jewelery and mobile phones. The leader of the gang, who had positioned himself outside the house, fired at neighbors who had gathered after hearing the screams, driving them away. The gang members escaped under the cover of darkness and got into a truck which they parked a kilometer away.
AIADMK MLA K. Sudarsanam was shot dead by a gang at his home in Tiruvallur district in January 2005. | Photo credit: FILE PHOTO
Immediately after the murder, a special team was formed under the leadership of Inspector General of Police (North) SR Jangid. The team found a pattern in several cases that occurred between 1995 and 2005, all showing the handiwork of a suspected gang from northern India. Police later arrested members of the Bawaria gang in Haryana and Rajasthan.
Police have discovered that between 1995 and 2005 there was a series of sensational highway attacks and murders for profit. The gang committed 24 dacoits in Tamil Nadu in which 13 persons were killed and 63 were injured, most of them seriously. Jewelery and cash worth over ₹2,000 were looted. The gang also struck in neighboring Andhra Pradesh.
In the Sudarsanam murder case, the Periyapalayam police arrested nine members of the Bawaria gang, including Oma alias Omprakash and Boora alias Gunthanlal, along with three women. Oma and Boora later died of the disease while serving a life sentence in Vellore Central Prison in another case: theft and murder of a doctor in Ranipet.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa consoles Jayammal, wife of Gummidipondi MLA K. Sudharsanam, in Thanakulam in Tiruvallur district on January 10, 2005. | Photo credit: FILE PHOTO
Four people were tried as the case was split after the three accused women absconded. The charge was filed in 2006 under sections 395 (theft), 396 (theft with murder) and 397 (robbery or theft causing death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code along with the provisions of the Arms Act. The court was led by another government advocate G. Srinivasan before XV. by the court for an additional session.
The four accused were produced before a magistrate in Singaravelar Maligai on Friday. The judge convicted three of them — Jagadish alias Gunna and Rakesh alias Guddu from Haryana and Ashok alias Laxman from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district.
Published – 21 Nov 2025 20:46 IST
