CHENNAI: Palani Kumar, a native of Madurai, was an orphan who grew up in a boys' home. After completing his Class 10 in Madurai, he worked at a bakery and sweet shops till he was 27, his friend Hari, also a policeman in Chennai, recounted.
According to Hari, Palani Kumar struggled to get into the police department as a constable. He has
served in different parts of the state and made serious efforts to learn English as he had studied in a Tamil medium school.
"After joining the department in 2003, his ability to solve crimes elevated him to the intelligence section. Work and the police department was all Palani Kumar knew," Hari said.
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"His sources were perfect and his intuition was so strong he would alert senior police officers about crimes before they even happened. He regularly checked on history-sheeters and would warn the relevant police station if he had information of a mishap" Hari said, adding that Palani Kumar was survived by his wife and three school-going daughters.
Palani Kumar's body was handed over to his kin after post-mortem. Additional Commissioner (North) R Dhinakaran and Joint Commissioner (West) B Vijayakumari paid their last respects.
A rocky road of gravel and stones
Purushothaman, an auto-rickshaw driver who was on the spot when the accident took place, recalled seeing Palani Kumar driving slowly, navigating carefully around the rocks and potholes on the road. He
also saw the Corporation truck behind him.
"As I turned to have tea, I suddenly heard a loud noise and saw the man under the truck," said Purushothaman. "It was only later that I came to know he was a policeman. There is a small pothole where his bike fell. His body was a few metres from the bike," he said.
Thyagarajan, an advocate from Kodungaiyur, a regular commuter on the stretch, said that while a cement road had been laid there the constant traffic of heavy vehicles had damaged and worsened the road.
The stretch is used by garbage trucks plying towards Kodungaiyur dumpyard and by some container vehicles after 11 pm.
"The cement road itself was slippery with small gravel on it. At the junction, only half of the road is laid while the other half is full of rocks and sand making it difficult to drive in the rainy season," he said, adding that motorists would slip on the road as it was full of rocks.