The Government Railway Police (GRP) have arrested the three men who attacked a Buddhist monk at Chennai Central railway station on Monday.
W.M.K. Bhandara (33) was attacked by the men on board the Tamil Nadu Express, just as it arrived at the station.
On checking CCTV footage, the GRP found that one of the attackers, was wearing a cap and sporting a beard.
“He was identified as Periyar Anban alias Meesha Srinivasan of the Naam Tamizhar Tamil outfit. We found out that he lives in Triplicane,” a police officer said. However when the police went to arrest him, they found him missing. “We then formed a special team to nab the attackers, who were all part of the same outfit. All police officers were alerted and asked to gather information,” said V. Ponramu, deputy superintendent, GRP.
This paid off, as on Tuesday all three men were nabbed in Periamet. The other two were identified as Saravana Prakash (29) of Thousand Lights and Prabhakaran of Kothavalchavadi. They have been remanded to custody.
The attack however, does not seem to have deterred Sri Lankan tourists. On Tuesday, around 280 tourists arrived at Central after visiting Bodh Gaya. The GRP and the Railway Protection Force are also coordinating with other states including New Delhi to keep track of Sri Lankans travelling to Chennai.
“We have deployed more officers to patrol stations and have asked them to monitor and protect any Sri Lankans travelling on trains,” said S.R. Gandhi, senior divisional security commissioner.
