A mob of autorickshaw drivers allegedly lynched a fellow driver and threw his body into the Kallukuttai Lake at Perungudi on Thursday evening. The shocking attack occurred at an autorickshaw stand opposite the Tidel Park in Taramani on Thursday evening.
Sources with the Taramani police team probing the matter said the incident took place at the autorickshaw stand around 4.30 p.m., when the victim Purushothaman (28), a driver and resident of Kanagi Nagar, Thoraipakkam, got into an argument with fellow driver Kanniah (54) of the stand.
The younger driver, who was under the influence of alcohol, assaulted the older man and injured him on the head with a knife he was carrying.
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This infuriated the others in the stand, which has 94 drivers.
A large group of drivers retaliated by brutally assaulting Purushothaman at the stand. He died on the spot as a result of the beating. Some of the assailants took the body of Purushothaman in an autorickshaw and threw it into the Kallukuttai Lake near Taramani.
The assailants told police that the driver was a nuisance and repeatedly assaulted fellow drivers and took away their hard-earned money. Having received information on the driver’s death, a Taramani police team rushed to the spot and recovered the body from the lake. It was sent for post-mortem to the Government Royapettah Hospital.
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Around 8 p.m., a group of nearly 50 autorickshaw drivers gathered outside the Taramani police station, shouting that they were Purushothaman’s killers and demanding that all of them be put behind bars. Senior police officers reached the station and are investigating further.
The lynched driver was involved in various cases of crime in Kannagi Nagar and adjoining areas.