A police encounter in Madurai’s Chinthamani outskirts on March 31, 2025, ended with 29-year-old V. Subash Chandra Bose of Pangajam Colony dead. This encounter sparked a firestorm of accusations from activists and family who call it a “planned murder.”

Bose, wanted for the March 23 murder of P. Kaleeshwaran—a history-sheeter and nephew of ex-DMK councillor V.K. Gurusamy—was shot in the chest by Inspector Boominathan around 6:30 pm. Police claim self-defense, but the narrative is under siege.

Commissioner J. Loganathan recounted a tense chase: Bose, nabbed after a tip-off about his ganja supply, allegedly attacked constables Karnan and Saravanankumar with a machete, injuring their shoulders. When he fired an illegal pistol—missing the inspector and hitting his own car—Boominathan shot back. “I aimed for his leg, but he moved,” the inspector said, explaining the fatal chest wound.

Bose was rushed to a private hospital, then declared dead at Government Rajaji Hospital, where the injured officers are also being treated.

Bose’s rap sheet boasted 21 cases, including three murders, tying him to a decades-long feud between Gurusamy and a gang linked to late AIADMK figure Rajapandian’s kin, Vellaikaali—Bose’s close ally. Kaleeshwaran’s killing was the latest in a bloody tally of 20 deaths.

Yet, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) cries foul, alleging a “fake encounter.” “A close-range chest shot reeks of execution,” PUCL’s S. Krishnasamy and John Vincent argued, demanding an independent probe per NHRC guidelines.

Bose’s family insists he was silenced, not stopped. As Madurai grapples with this clash—punctuated by a seized machete and pistol—the question looms: was it a lawful takedown or a scripted kill?