Vinod Kumar, one of the five suspects killed on Thursday, was a dropout of an engineering college in the city's suburbs. Kumar, caught doing a recce in a CCTV grab, was involved in sourcing students from the northern states for a commission from private colleges.
On Thursday, as students of colleges in Potheri and Kattankulathur gathered around tea shops and eateries, speaking about the encounter, Vinod Kumar was remembered as "a quarrelsome guy, who was fond of money."
Some students said they knew Vinod Kumar as a brash man who wielded tremendous clout. "He was feared in this area, where hundreds of students resided. These gangs used to settle personal scores, whether it was related to admissions or love affairs," said Akhil Gupta (name changed), owner of a dhaba in the area.
"They lived the high life, flew down expensive call girls from Mumbai and Bangalore and zipped around in flashy cars that they hired on a daily basis. Every other day there was a brawl near the entrance of the SRM University campus. The boys' hostel and the residences of students, if checked, would yield a major cache of drugs and arms," said Gupta.
Autorickshaw drivers in the area who saw the television grab of Vinod Kumar said, "He was a frequent visitor to a posh apartment complex in Potheri, where he and his friends used to drink and party."
Another shopkeeper, who did not wish to be identified, said, "It was surprising that students had so much money to blow up every day. Now people know where that money came from. Crime has never paid and I hope this incident will open the eyes of other youngsters.''
The source of this income, students say, is the admissions racket that yields around Rs 50,000 or more for every student these "agents" bring from their states. In many cases, it is a percentage of the money (fees plus donation) paid by a student to the college. It can be as high as 10%. Since so much money is involved, many "gangs" have sprung up and frequent clashes break out among them, other students said.
Vinod, dhaba owner Gupta said, had once brandished a weapon in a fight between two gangs - one from UP and the other from Bihar. Other residents of the suburbs, including Guduvanchery and Maraimalainagar, where a large of number of these students reside said it was time police kept tabs on these students.
"Five of them get together and rent a house for Rs 20,000. The owner has no clue about them. The real estate brokers are to be blamed as they jack up the rents for their benefit and crooks become tenants in the neighbourhood," said Salim Pervez, a resident of Potheri.
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