It was a regular morning duty for Head Constable, Senthil Raja, along with a Home Guard, Guruprasad, in the city on September 29. They were deployed for bandobust at Mudakku Salai Junction in view of Al-Umma activist Imam Ali’s death anniversary.
After a while, the Constable and the Home Guard had gone to a local hotel for their breakfast. As they went closer, they found two youths sitting in an autorickshaw parked outside the eatery.
Despite being hungry, the Head Constable who grew suspicious over their movement, questioned them. They gave contradictory statements which only strengthened his suspicion.
One of them tried to manage the situation claiming that he had come to visit his friend staying in a lodge. Not satisfied, the Head Constable took the duo to the first floor room in the lodge.
“The room was locked from inside. When I knocked at the door, another youth emerged. An aged couple were sitting inside. Seeing my khaki uniform, the man, V. Selvakumar (61), alerted me that he and his wife, Mercy Maragatham (51) were kidnapped by the gang,” Senthil Raja told The Hindu .
Immediately, he made all the three assemble in a corner of the room and alerted his superiors.
Not only did the Head Constable and the Home Guard act swiftly to arrest three anti-social elements, but they also helped rescue of the aged couple from their clutches, the Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav, said.
The accused were identified as M. Vignesh (20), J. Syed Ahmed (23) and F. Azharudeen.
Subsequent, enquiries revealed that the trio had kidnapped the couple at Kappalur junction the previous day after Selvakumar failed to repay Rs. 5 lakh he had got from a man from Chennai.
In another incident, Head Constables Ayyadurai and K. Velmurugan of Teppakulam Traffic wing, acted swiftly, chased a man who had taken to heels after snatching a gold chain from a lone woman in Munichalai Junction on Saturday.
“It was around 8.45 p.m. we were alerted by the alarm of a few people who were chasing a fleeing man,” recalled Velmurugan, who was on traffic duty along with Ayyadurai.
The head constables too started chasing the man.
“After some 60 feet of chase, we overpowered him. Only after that we were told that he had snatched the gold chain from one Jayanthi in Ismailpuram,” he said. The Head Constables recovered the property.
The two incidents were appreciated by Mr. Shailesh Kumar Yadav, who honoured them at his chamber on Tuesday.
