A police officer opened fire in the air to quell a clash between two groups of people belonging to the same community at Posampatti village in Pudukottai district on Tuesday. Ten persons were injured in the clash.
The incident was linked to an allegedly defamatory post made on Facebook against a prominent person in the village Udaiyappan using an apparently fake ID. The post was said to have been subsequently deleted.
Police sources said a group reportedly owing allegiance to Mr. Udaiyappan suspected that Jeeva, son of Paramasivam, a resident of the same village, was behind the post. The group entered Mr. Paramasivam’s house on Monday and allegedly abused and assaulted him and his 17-year-old daughter. The two were treated as out-patients at the government hospital in Aranthangi.
Case registered
Acting on a complaint by Mr. Paramasivam, the K. Pudupatti police registered a case against five persons under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons) 448 (house trespass) and 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation), read with Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. The accused are absconding.
On Tuesday, Mr. Paramasivam and Mr. Udaiyappan, accompanied by their supporters clashed. The two groups threw stones at each other and also assaulted each other with clubs.
K. Pudupatti police station sub-inspector Saravanan, along with two other policemen, rushed to the spot. As the warring groups showed no signs of relenting, Mr. Saravanan opened one round of fire in the air.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Tiruchi Range) Z. Annie Vijaya and Pudukottai Superintendent of Police L. Balaji are camping there.
Ms. Vijaya told The Hindu that normalcy had been restored in the village. The sub-inspector had resorted to the firing to bring the situation under control, she said, adding that the officer had sustained an injury to his hand in the stone-pelting incident. Tension between the two groups had been simmering for some time, she added.