Midnight drama as robbery suspects attack policeman

A drama unfolded late on Tuesday after three persons allegedly slashed the arm of a police constable with billhooks when he tried to prevent them from fleeing after they stole a mobile phone. On Wednesday, more drama followed as pictures of the trio with broken and bandaged limbs were released on social media.

S. Anbalagan, 45, a constable attached to the Poonamallee police station, was on patrol duty at night near Kumananchavadi. At 11.40 p.m., he spotted three persons on a bike waylaying another biker near Iyyapanthangal. He stopped and questioned them, but they gave evasive replies, claiming the other biker was a friend and they were chatting with him. The constable reportedly let them go initially, but on suspicion that they had stolen a mobile phone, intercepted them again near Hudco Nagar, Kattupakkam.

He also alerted sub-inspector Siva of a nearby mobile patrolling team. Mr. Anbalagan took away the key of the suspects’ bike and asked them to wait until the patrol team arrived. However, they insisted that he return the key. The constable was taking pictures of them on his phone when one of them reportedly pulled out a billhook from the two-wheeler.

They attacked the constable, who resisted. A CCTV camera captured the incident. Mr. Anbalagan backed off and ran to save his life.

After assaulting and trying to snatch the constable’s mobile phone, the trio escaped from the spot. The policeman was left with deep cut injuries.

Subsequently, the patrolling team reached the spot and alerted the Ambattur police.

Ambattur Deputy Police Commissioner S. Sarvesh said: “We acted quickly and used the pictures of the suspect taken by the constable and used a face tagging app with the data in our inventory. Along with the CCTV footage, we got key information. We nabbed the three accused before dawn.”

Police personnel scanned the entire area and surrounded the suspects near Senneerkuppam. The suspects jumped off a bridge in a bid to escape but were apprehended by the personnel.

Mr. Anbalagan was admitted to the Government Stanley Hospital for treatment. Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan, accompanied by Additional Commissioner H.M. Jayaram, visited the injured constable in the hospital.

The police identified the suspects as Sathishkumar, 31, of Nolambur, Panneerselvam, 24, of Koyambedu and Ranjith, 22, of Thiruverkadu. They were booked for assaulting a public servant and attempting to murder. Two of them are murder accused. The police recovered mobile phones, a billhook and bike from them.

Criticism over photos

Meanwhile, photos of the trio with bandaged arms and legs, which were circulated on social media, drew criticism from netizens.

In a Facebook post, an officer stated that it was learnt from reliable sources that the “three persons, who attacked a policeman on duty on Tuesday night in Poonamallee, slipped on a bathroom floor and broke their bones. Wishing a ‘speedy’ recovery.”

The police officer later deleted the post.