C.K. Gandhirajan, IPS

Dr. C. K. Gandhirajan is an Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer of the 1985 batch belonging to the Tamil Nadu Cadre. Hailing from Thiruvallur District, he serves as the Director General of Police,Fire, Rescue and Emergency Servicesin Tamil Nadu. He obtained a PhD.in Criminology from the University of Madras. He is an author of two books, Organized Crime and Inside Prisons.

C.K. Gandhirajan did his schooling in the Thiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu. He majored in Chemistry from the University of Madras. He holds a doctorate for his thesis on "organized crime" from the University of Madras. He is interested in subjects like Community Policing, Organized Crime, Juvenile Delinquency and Police Training.

C.K. Gandhirajan joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) as a member of the 1985 batch. He did his training at the National Police Academy, Hyderabad. After serving as Assistant Superintendent of Police, he was promoted to the rank of Superintendent of Police in 1989 and has served in Dharmapuri, Erode, and Chengalpattu East Districts. He was appointed as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in the Washermanpet area of Chennai. In 1999, he was promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police and served in the Chennai Range, Armed Police, Training and Railways. He was promoted to the rank of Inspector General of Police on 22 October 2005 and served in Operations and Intelligence before being posted as The Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City. He was promoted to the rank Additional Director General of Police, on 1 November 2010 Where he headed the Enforcement and Tamil Nadu Police Transport Corporation.

Asaithambi, was a notorious gangster in the 1990s, prominent in the underworld of North Chennai. He was involved in kidnapping, extortion and contract killing.

When his criminal activities was extended throughout the city, the Government of Tamil Nadu commissioned a special team, Operation Asai, headed by then Chennai Superintendent of Police C.K. Gandhirajan

On 30 July 1996, Gandhirajan and team gunned down Asaithambi and his gang in front of Loyola College, Chennai. For his actions, Gandhirajan was awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry.

The year 1996 is considered as the first encounter in Chennai city limits.

• As Superintendent of Police, Gandhirajan was awarded the President's Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG)for an encounter with a criminal in Chennai in 2000. The medal is equivalent to the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) which is awarded to police officers in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, for gallantry.
• As Additional Director General of Police, Gandhirajan was awarded the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service (PPM) on 28 August 2013

1. He has organized training programs and delivered several lectures on Organized Crime, Community Policing, Computer Crimes and Juvenile Delinquency at the Police Training College in Chennai to Police Officers across various levels.
2. He is also a guest faculty for M.A. Criminology at the Madras University.
3. A detailed study has been conducted on criminal gangs in Chennai City for thesis research in the Department of Criminology University of Madras. The study deals with notorious organized criminal gangs. This study concentrated on organizational structure of the gangs, their modus operandi and the socio-economic condition of the members of these gangs.

1. In the 26th All India Criminology Conference held at University of Madras in December 2002, he participated and presented a paper on the Empirical Study on Organized Crime.
2. Participated and presented a paper on Crime Risk Reduction: Multi-Dimensional Approach at a National Seminar on Crime Prevention organized by the Indian Society of Criminology at Madras University on 10 September 2002.
3. Participated and presented a paper on Crime Prevention at a seminar organized by the Institute of Criminological Research Education and Services on 30 October 1999 at Jaya College of Arts and Science at Chennai.
4. As a member of the Organizing Committee, he organized an All India Criminology Conference at the Madras University in collaboration with the Indian Society of Criminology from 26 to 28 December 2002

• Mapping Criminal Gangs in Chennai City: Indian Journal of Criminology, Volume 30, January and July, 2002 Nos. 1 & 2.
• Literature on Organized Crime in the CID Review, Vol. II, June 2002 Issue 6.
• Public Participation in Crime Prevention in the CID, Review Vol. II October 2002 Issue 10.
• Journey to Crime: Spatial Behaviors of Criminal Gangs in Chennai City – 'Indian Police Journal', Volume. 3 July to September 2003 Edition.