CHENNAI: Two days after a group allegedly killed a woman and injured her relative at Royapuram, city police commissioner A K Viswanathan placed the Royapuram police inspector Raja Robert under suspension as he did not arrest the suspect when the woman filed the first complaint.
Mary, 40, was residing at the housing board quarters at Royapuram and her relatives Merlin and Prem resided nearby. On Friday morning, Mary had allegedly shouted at her neighbour Vinod, 28, as he was allegedly teasing a 15-year-old daughter of Merlin and Prem.
Later, she filed a complaint with police who warned him and did not arrest him. Later, in the evening Vinod’s brother Tamil Selvan, 24, and his friend Shankar, 28, went to Mary’s house at night to threaten her. Mary called for help and Merlin and Prem went to her rescue and Vinod also reached the house and a fight ensued. Vinod allegedly stabbed Mary and Merlin and the trio escaped, said a police source. Mary was declared ‘brought dead’ by the hospital and Merlin is undergoing treatment.
Royapuram police arrested the three who were later remanded to judicial custody.
A senior police officer said had the inspector arrested Vinod, the murder could have been prevented.
By another order, the commissioner suspended a head constable attached to CMBT police station for allegedly taking crackers from a lorry driver. During a vehicle check on October 18, Kalaivanan, the head-constable, had taken `15,000-worth crackers from a truck on the 100 Feet Road as the driver did not have proper documents. The driver filed a complaint.
Two cell phones snatched
Chennai: Two cell phone snatching incidents were reported at Kodambakkam on Friday. On Friday evening, Swetha had gone for walking at Kodambakkam when two motorcycle-borne men snatched her mobile phone and escaped. She raised an alarm, but the men escaped. Kodambakkam police have registered a case and are investigating. In the other incident, Gugan, who works in the house-keeping department at a hotel was returning home from work on a cycle. “As he reached the Kodambakkam bridge, two men attacked him and robbed him of his phone and `500,” said a police source.
Software engineer dies in road accident
Chennai: A software engineer died after he rammed his car into a tree on East Coast Road at Kalpakkam on Saturday night. Police said Harish, a software engineer, along with his friend Praveen Kumar were headed to Puducherry. “The duo reached Kalpakkam where Harish lost control of the vehicle and rammed into a tree,” said a police officer.
Customs seize 20 kg of Iranian saffron
Chennai: Customs officials seized nearly 20 kg of Iranian saffron worth `47.4 lakh at Chennai Airport on Sunday from a passenger who arrived from Dubai, a release said. The passenger has been booked under the Customs Act. Officials said that smuggling of saffron is on the rise because of high import duty and price of the Indian variety.