‘Aneesh has assets worth Rs 30 crore’

Kochi: Maradu Aneesh, the notorious goon in Kochi city, who has been in the news in the past few years over the murder of one Imthiaz Khan at Chittoor and the rivalry between his and the gang of another goon Bhai Nazeer, has assets worth around Rs 30, according to the police.

Investigations into the background and dealings of Aneesh led to the finding that he ‘directly or indirectly’ owns land worth Rs 30 crore in Tamil Nadu, said Suneesh Babu, the assistant commissioner of Ernakulam central police.

“Aneesh has a lot of property in Tamil Nadu. Those are either owned by himself or by his benamis. The assets must have been procured using his quotation jobs and spirit smuggling deals there,” the ACP said.

Aneesh, who is in Madurai jail now in connection with a spirit-smuggling case there, also has a company named Aanikkattil Aneesh Antony (AAA) that supplies bouncers on demand to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Thirty four-year-old Aneesh, a native of Maradu in Kochi, has been in the police’s goon list since the early 2000s when he set up a quotation gang in the city against Bhai Nazeer’s gang.

Aneesh’s rivalry with Nazeer intensified after the former’s aide named Sinoj alias Joseph was killed in a police encounter in Tamil Nadu a few years ago, allegedly after Nazeer tipped off the cops about his hideout. While Nazeer’s jobs and deals are mostly in Kochi and its outskirts, Aneesh has spread his goon gang in Tamil Nadu state and has Coimbatore and Maradu as his centres.

According to sources in the city police, Aneesh expanded his empire by taking up quotation jobs of big shots and politicians and by solving big-scale property disputes using muscle strength.

Kochi city police probed his background following the recent bust-up between his and Nazeer’s gang on the corridor of Ernakulam judicial magistrate which also led to a bombing incident at an apartment near Deshabhimani Junction.