RANIPET: The district police are inquiring into the incident involving an elderly man from Sattur village who got into an argument with the Sattur Village Administrative Officer (VAO) over his petition and allegedly attacked the VAO at the Ungaludan Stalin camp on Wednesday at Arcot.
As per an official statement from the police, the man, identified as Venkadapathy (65), suddenly attacked the VAO with his hand, obstructing him from performing his duty. To prevent the situation from escalating, SI Prabhakaran, who was present at the site, used minimal force to send Venkadapathy away.
The statement added that a selective portion of the video showing only the police officer’s interaction with the man is being circulated on social media, alleging that the police assaulted the elderly man, and termed it misleading. A video of the man’s interaction with the VAO is also being circulated on social media separately.
A revenue official from the district told TNIE that Venkadapathy was arguing with the VAO, asking how pattas could be given to people on land that belonged to the forest. He added that the land used to be a forest in the 1940s, but later began to be used for residential purposes, and from 1984, free house site pattas were issued for the land by the government.