CUDDALORE: A 19-year-old robbery suspect from Puducherry was shot dead by police near Cuddalore on Wednesday after he allegedly attacked officers during an arrest operation.
According to police, a gang had attacked lorry drivers with machetes and looted them at three locations along the Villupuram-Nagapattinam highway in Cuddalore district in the early hours of Wednesday. Based on a tip-off, police tracked the gang to a cashew farm in M Puthur and attempted to apprehend them.
During the operation, one of the gang members, identified as Vijay alias Mottai Vijay from Thilaspet, Puducherry, attacked police personnel with a machete. Constables Gopi and Ganapathy sustained injuries. In response, Inspector Chandran opened fire, hitting Vijay in the chest and hip, leading to his death on the spot, police sources said.
Police stated that Vijay had over 30 pending criminal cases against him in Puducherry region, Villupuram, and Cuddalore districts. The injured constables were admitted to Cuddalore Government Hospital, where Cuddalore Superintendent of Police S Jeyakumar met them before visiting the encounter site. Vijay’s body was taken to the same hospital for autopsy.
Speaking to the media, SP Jeyakumar said, “The inspector shot him in self-defense after he attempted to attack him following the assault on the constables. We are searching for five of his associates in connection with the robbery cases registered at Pudhuchathiram and Thirupathiripuliyur police stations on Wednesday.”
This is the third police encounter in Tamil Nadu in recent days. On the previous Wednesday, Jafar Gulam Husain, a member of the Irani gang, was shot dead in Chennai, and on Monday, history-sheeter V Subash Chandra Bose was killed in an encounter in Madurai.