A head constable of the Thakkolam station in Arakkonam taluk was mowed down by a tractor driver, when he tried to stop smuggling of sand in the Palar at Thakkolam on Sunday.
According to police sources, Kanakaraj (43) went to the river at Purisai in Thakkolam following an anonymous phone call that said sand was being smuggled out of the Purisai and Pichaivakkam areas. Seeing the head constable, tractor driver Suresh (21) of Thakkolam tried to drive away.
When the policeman signalled the vehicle to stop, the driver knocked him down. Caught beneath, Kanakaraj died on the spot.
Then, the driver escaped with the tractor.
R. Tamil Chandran, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Vellore Range, and P. Vijayakumar, Superintendent of Police, Vellore, went to the spot and conducted enquiries.
Mr. Vijayakumar said that three special police parties had been formed to nab the driver.
CM grants solatium Expressing deep grief over the head constable being crushed to death, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday night announced a solatium of Rs.10 lakh to the family of the deceased. “I have directed the police department to take stringent action against those responsible for this death,” she said in a statement in Chennai. The tractor driver is reportedly the son of a woman ward councilor of the DMDK.
