Chennai, Jan 7 (IANS): Two notorious criminals were killed on Friday by the Tamil Nadu Police after they tried to escape from custody.

The deceased are identified as Dhinesh (34) and Moideen (28). According to the police, the two were involved in two back-to-back murders that happened on Thursday late night at Chengalpattu in which two vegetable merchants, Karthik and Mahesh, were killed.

Chengalpattu special police team led by Station house officer (SHO) Ravi had arrested the duo.

Police said that Karthik was accused in two murder cases and was brutally killed on Thursday night after throwing country bombs and later hacking him to death. The duo of Dhinesh and Moideen and their accomplices then went to the residence of Mahesh who was a vegetable merchant in Chengalpattu and hacked him to death at his home. The reason for enmity with Mahesh is not known, police said.

Immediately after the two murders were reported, police identified the killers and arrested Dhinesh and Moideen but the rest of the gang remained elusive. Police said that while the two were brought to Chengalpattu to verify the crime scene of the murder of Karthik, they tried to escape. The police team had to resort to firing in which Dhinesh and Moideen were fatally wounded.