Thanjavur man, 32, shot dead by police in Australia

CHENNAI: A 32-year-old man from Thanjavur district was shot dead by police at Auburn railway station in Sydney, Australia on Tuesday after he reportedly attacked a cleaning worker with a knife, sources said.
crThe deceased was identified as Mohammad Rahmathullah Syed Ahmed, a resident of Athirampattinam in Thanjavur district. The injured worker is said to be in stable condition, officials said quoting the doctors.
A lawyer in the New South Wales city told TOI over phone that after coming to know of the attack on the worker, two police officers tried to apprehend Ahmed, who was wielding a blood-soaked knife, and insisted that he surrender. After he refused and tried to attack them, the officers fired thrice, with two bullets piercing his chest, the lawyer said. A woman constable also used a taser on him, he added.
Ahmed was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. An investigation officer confirmed that Ahmed and the worker he attacked were not known to each other.
Inquiries revealed that Ahmed, who had been involved in five clashes - all of them non-criminal and Covid-19 related - with police in the past, had gone to Australia in 2019 and was working at a restaurant. His father Syed Ahmed and his elder brother Mohamed Abdul Alim, a businessman, along with other family members are in Chennai, police said.
Thanjavur collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver told TOI that he had informed the Commissioner for Rehabilitation and Welfare of Non-Resident Tamils about the incident and that officials in the latter's office would coordinate with the ministry of external affairs.
Mohammad Saleigh, who lives in the same Athirampattinam neighbourhood where Ahmed's family lived, told TOI "he was a silent person". Ahmed had been married and later got divorced, Saleigh said, adding that after he got separated from his wife, he was known to be depressed.
All the issues that could have played a part in the attack on a worker and subsequently against police officers are being looked into, sources said.