The police resorted to a mild lathi charge on an unruly mob that pelted stones at them on the Ring Road intersection near Madurai-Sivaganga stretch on Tuesday. Three police personnel, including Othakadai Inspector Senthil Ilanthirayan, were injured.
Police sources said that about 10 vans and SUVs carrying people from different districts were about to enter the city limits to participate in the Marudu Brothers’ death anniversary through the Ring Road.
As some of them were sitting atop the vehicle, the police stopped them and asked them to get into the vehicle. Irked over the advice, they pelted stones at the police and shouted slogans.
As they did not heed to warnings, a police team led by Superintendent of Police M. Manohar chased them away by resorting to a mild lathi charge. Two police vehicles were damaged in the incident.
Apart from the Inspector, two other police men Isakki Anandan and Balamuruga Boopathy, were injured and are undergoing treatment. The Karupayoorani police have registered a case.
Inside the city
Though the police claimed that there was only one case of stone pelting by an unruly mob on a State Transport Corporation bus near Teppakulam police station, the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation officials claimed that five buses were damaged during the day at several locations.
Many who came to garland the Marudu Brothers’ statues near Teppakulam in vans and SUVs accompanied by their leaders were criss-crossing the city roads in a rash and reckless manner causing panic to other road users, a traffic police officer said.