Home guard, 25, harasses woman SI to marry him, held

CHENNAI: The Egmore police on Saturday arrested a 25-year-old home guard constable for stalking a woman sub-inspector, going so far as attempting to tie a mangalsutra round her neck.

The suspect K Balachandran is a home guard from Vellore district. The woman SI, working in a city police station, is married with a child.

Police sources said the woman had befriended Balanchandran when she was posted in the Katpadi station for training in 2016. The two parted ways as Balachandran proposed to her.

She had informed Balanchandran that she was married but the man continued to stalk her and repeatedly called her. Four months ago, Balanchandran called the woman to tell her that he wanted to marry her. Alarmed, she blocked his number.

This lead to Balachandran on several occasions calling up the station she worked in and introducing himself as the woman’s husband.

Balachandran also threatened to kill her husband and child if she failed to comply with his wishes. Seeing his behavior take an ugly turn, the woman sought the help of a colleague and decided to meet Balanchandran to sort out things. Around 8.30pm on Saturday, the two met Balanchandran in Egmore. Balachandran, who came with a mangalsutra, got into an argument and at knifepoint attempted to tie the mangalsutra. He was, however, overpowered by the woman’s colleague. Police seized a knife, two rings, the mangalsutra, a two-wheeler and a mobile phone from him.

Balachandran was remanded in judicial custody.