A senior citizen died after suffering a heart attack on a busy street in Chrompet on Wednesday morning. Police struggled to establish his identity as there were no documents or other identity markers on him. It was only after his relatives approached the police that the victim was identified.
The man, Dhanapalan (65) of Kaatthuputhu village in Kancheepuram District was a watchman in a private company in Nagappa Nagar in Tiruneermalai. On Wednesday morning, he left office and went to a clinic in New Colony on experiencing uneasiness. The doctor there asked Dhanapalan to visit Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital in Chennai as his clinic did not have the adequate facilities to treat him. Even as Dhanapalan was walking on New Colony Fifth Street, he started gasping for breath and sought the help of people working in shops there.
Women employees in the office of an advocate and others offered him water. Dhanapalan collapsed at the gate of the tile shop and did not regain consciousness. The onlookers summoned an ambulance and paramedical staff who arrived with it pronounced him dead. Meanwhile, a team of policemen on patrol duty also reached the spot. They tried to ascertain his identity but were not able to as all that the man had in his possession was a bag containing a shawl, some clothes and a few hundred rupees.
The body lay on the same spot for about half an hour while police took the man’s fingerprint impressions and recorded statements of eye-witnesses.
The body was then taken to the mortuary of Chrompet GH. Sometime later, a young employee of a consumer durable showroom visited the mortuary as he suspected that the victim might be related to him. He confirmed Dhanapalan’s identity following which his relatives were informed.
