TN cop chasing thieves in Rajasthan shot with own gun

CHENNAI: A city police inspector tracking a burglar gang was shot dead in Rajasthan with his own gun when he was trying to arrest the suspects on Wednesday. Police inspector S Periyapandi, attached to the Maduravoyal station, was heading a special team and had gone to Pali district in Rajasthan to nab two suspects in the wee hours when the incident happened.

According to a senior police officer, Periyapandi was part of a seven-member special team that went to Rampura village in Pali district to nab two main suspects, C Nathuram (28) and Dinesh Chowdary (20), who drilled a hole in the roof of a jewellery shop at Kolathur here and looted around 3.5 kg of gold on November 16.

“The team of policemen from Tamil Nadu, including inspector Periyapandi and inspector Munisekar, was at Jaithran police station till

9 pm on Tuesday. They had left around 1 am when they got information that the duo was in Rampura village. When the special team reached the spot, the suspects along with the locals pelted stones at them. Both inspectors who were ahead of the other team members were intercepted by Nathuram and a few others. They first threw a stone at Munisekar, and when he fell down, attacked him with iron rods. When Periyapandi too fell down, Nathuram picked up the inspector’s revolver and shot him at close range,” the officer said.

“The Tamil Nadu police had gone alone to the spot to nab the suspects. Only a single gunshot was heard. We have recovered the empty cartridge and two 9 mm pistols from the crime scene,” said Deepak Bhargav, superintendent of police, Pali.

CM orders `1 cr compensation
CM Palaniswami announced J1 crore compensation to Periyapandi’s family. Police said his body would be flown to Chennai and taken to his native Tirunelveli