Chennai police shot dead two notorious gangsters in an encounter on Monday, third such killing in the New Year. Both the gangsters were facing many murder charges and were shot dead outside Chennai. And the police reaction is pretty similar to the earlier ones.

"They fired some rounds at the police, police had to return to defend themselves. Some were injured," Chennai Police Commissioner T Rajendran said.

In the last four years the Tamil Nadu police have shot dead 23 criminals, including a few notorious criminals like Vellai Ravi and Sudalaimani. But no FIRs were filed and the state has allegedly not reported these killings to the National Human Rights Commission - in violation of set guidelines.

Activists say this is a dangerous trend.

"We do not want Tamil Nadu to go the way Uttar Pradesh has gone, the way Gujarat has gone, the way Maharashtra has gone, because all their cases of encounters have been proved to be false, including the man who was alleged to have attempted to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi," said Henry Tiphagne, Executive Director, People's Watch.

Tamil Nadu is certainly not that bad in terms of numbers when it comes to encounter killings. But is the state police marching towards a dubious distinction by undermining the rule of law?