An armed gang attacked a 25-year-old married man in public at Tiruvanaikovil area here on Wednesday evening for allegedly troubling and harassing a minor girl regularly.
The mason, K. Manikandan, was attacked allegedly by the two brothers of the minor girl along with three others at Bharathi Street even as the public watched in shock. Manikandan, who has a one-and-half-year-old child, had separated from his wife.
Manikandan belonging to a Scheduled Caste community was in love with the 15-year-old girl and had allegedly been harassing and troubling her. He was an alcoholic and a ganja addict and had also been creating problems in the area, said the police. The girl’s brothers had warned him to desist from teasing their sister. However, Manikandan continued with his act enraging the girl’s brothers.
The brothers along with three others accosted Manikandan at Tiruvanaikovil area where they attacked him with iron rods and aruval. The group did not spare Manikandan even as he tried to take refuge nearby and attacked him continuously and allegedly abused him using his caste name.
The offence, which was committed near a pawn shop, was captured in a surveillance camera installed nearby and the video of the attack went viral in the social media hours after the incident occurred. After the attackers left the spot, Manikandan was admitted to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital with injuries on his forehead, head and right hand.
Srirangam Police booked a case on a complaint lodged by Manikandan against A. Siva, R. Suresh, R. Santhosh Kumar and ‘Soda’ Mohan besides another person.
A case was booked under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 294 (b) (uttering obscene words in a public place) and 307 (attempt to murder) read with SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Police said Siva, Suresh, Santhosh and Soda Mohan were detained on Thursday in connection with the offence.