CUDDALORE: Tensions erupted in Neyveli after a youth, whose bike had been seized by the police for driving under influence on Saturday night, was found dead with injuries on the highway, opposite to Neyveli Township police station. The police confirmed he was killed in a road accident, but his relatives, alleging that he was murdered by police, staged a blockade on the Kumbakonam-Chennai National Highway the next day.
Neyveli Sub-division Deputy Superintendent of Police A Shafiullah held talks with the protesters and showed them the security camera footage of the youth -- R Rajkumar (36) of Keezhakollai near Panruti -- leaving the police station by foot, which pacified the protesters.
The body was then sent to the Government Villupuram Medical College Hospital in Mundiyampakkam for autopsy. The police registered a case and an investigation is under way to identify the vehicle involved in the accident.
Police sources said that the youth, a photographer, was stopped by the police during a vehicle inspection in Vadakuthu Thillai Nagar on Saturday night. As he did not possess the necessary documents and was reportedly found riding his motorbike drunk, they seized the vehicle and booked a case against him for drunk driving.
When the youth visited the police station, he was told to be back the next morning with documents for the vehicle, following which he left. In the early hours of Sunday, he was reportedly found dead with head injuries on the highway, opposite the police station," sources said.