A magisterial inquiry was started on Wednesday into the Tuesday night encounter killing of Anandan, a suspect wanted in connection with the case of attack on policeman on Monday night at Royapettah. 

Meanwhile, police said they have arrested three remaining men who were wanted in the case. Magistrate P Sandilyan visited the encounter spot on Wednesday morning and interacted with the family members of the deceased. He also supervised the post mortem examination conducted at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. 

Police said the family received the body in the afternoon and buried it by evening. Three others – Arun, Sridhar, Sundar – who were secured along with Anandan from Sholinganallur on Tuesday, were remanded in judicial custody in connection with the case related to the knife attack on policeman Rajavel. 

The policeman was responding to a call to the Police Control Room about trouble in PM Durgha area in Roypettah on Monday night. Police had earlier arrested six others in connection with the case. 

Top city police officers have asked their men not to go alone to respond to calls received at the control room. “If the call is about possible law and order problem, never send one person to the location. At least go in a team of two,” a top officer reportedly told his constabulary through walkie-talkie. His instruction comes a day after policemen Rajavel, who went alone to PM Durgha area, faced knife attack. The officer has also asked those personnel entitled to carry guns to carry it compulsory with them when they venture out. 

Yet to recover from the shock and anger over the killing of their relative, his family is questioning the police’s decision to shoot and kill a “small-time offender” in an encounter. 

Anandan’s wife knows what he did; she had pleaded with him against joining the group who attacked the policeman for interrupting their carrom game. But he did not pay heed. Now, the police man is recuperating at the hospital after suffering cut injuries on his face and head, while some of those who attacked him are nursing fractures. But Anandan is dead, killed in a late night encounter on Tuesday, leaving his young family behind. 

It all started at 10 pm on Monday, when a policeman approached Anandan and friends who were playing carrom on the street near their home. They were asked to wind up and return home, which they refused. 

“Instead, they decided to attack the cop as he was alone. I saw one of the men put a knife in my husband’s hand and asked him to join them. I tried to stop my husband, but he did not listen. I ran away from there for the fear of getting hurt. 

The last thing I remember from the incident is the police man being attacked, with his walkie-talkie lying in one corner and a shoe in the other,” said 24-year-old Rashida, the wife of the deceased.

The family admitted that Anandan, a plumber, and his friends were wrong, but noted how the retaliatory action by the police has only left yet the marginalised family further in distress. 

“The police could have handled the issue better, by arresting and punishing those who were involved, instead of having taken it upon themselves to end his life. What would happen to his wife and children, one aged five years and the other only one,” asked a close family member. 

The family is also disputing the ‘rowdy’ tag that was bestowed on Anandan and his friends, stating that they were only involved in a few drunken skirmishes. 

Family members said the police team had taken Anandan’s mother, Jayalalitha, to the station, assuring to let her free once he was arrested. “Police personnel came home and destroyed our television set, my father’s framed photo and the table fan, our documents, tore up a currency note and ruined the child’s school books. They later released my mother saying that they have taken Anandan into custody,” she added. 

It was only when the news broke that the family and neighbours learnt that he was killed by the police. 

All the channels showed his face but the facts kept changing, said his mother. “We thought he would be punished for the crime and released. The only difference between my son and the police is that he, according to them, is a rowdy,” said Jayalalitha.