VELLORE: The district police is in the process of collecting video footages from commercial establishments along the National Highway-46 in Ambur Town, particularly in and around OAR Theatre, to identify the persons involved in the violent attack on police personnel on Saturday, that left several cops with multiple injuries. So far, a total of about 123 persons (113 confirmed by the police and 10 allegedly arrested) have been arrested from Ambur and Pernambut area.
After a thorough inquiry and cross-checking of evidence (video footages), police registered a case against 95 of them and released the rest. Police arrested another 18 between Tuesday and Friday afternoon and 10 (unconfirmed arrests) after that.
The police department registered seven cases in Ambur Town Station under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, read with section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act against 113 persons involved in the violent attack. The police have also invoked section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998 against 11 of them arrested under crime number 304/15 for molesting and misbehaving with women police personnel on duty on that day.
The Kancheepuram AR women police confronted Ramnad MLA Jawahirullah and Ambur MLA Aslam Basha at the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital on Sunday. The two MLAs apologised on behalf of people of their community who had misbehaved with them and assaulted them.
“Several protestors assaulted the women police and even molested them,” said a police official. But he refused to speak in detail stating it would taint the image of the department.
Over 2,000 youth from Vaniyambadi, Pernambut, Gudiyattam and Ambur areas had converged near OAR Theatre in Ambur Town to condemn the death of Shameel Ahmed, who allegedly died due to injuries sustained during his illegal detention by the Pallikonda police. The mob turned hostile and pelted stones at police personnel and attacked them with deadly weapons, leaving 38 police personnel with multiple injuries. Two police jeeps, two motorbikes, a TASMAC outlet and a mini-bus were set on fire while several government and private vehicles were damaged. Private hospitals were also ransacked.
At the end of the four-hour violence at about 12.30 am on Sunday, police picked nearly 200 youth from Housing Board, Pudumannai, Nellikollai and surrounding areas for attacking police personnel and on charges of arson.
“Police have arrested many innocent youth in connection with the incident. Those people should be released. The police should be cautious in making arrests,” said chairperson of National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation Prof A Marx. He visited family members of Shameel Ahmed and locals whose family members were arrested in connection with Saturday’s incident.
Denying the charges, police officials said that they have collected video footage from petrol bunks, hotels and other commercial establishments in Ambur Town to nab the culprits involved in the clash. “We have arrested the 113 persons after verifying the material evidences available with the department,” said a senior police officer.