Hours after a group of fishermen from Andhra Pradesh attacked a village near the Pulicat lake, the police arrested one person in connection with the incident. Tiruvallur district superintendent of police Saravanan identified the person as Kuppan, a resident of Nochikuppam.
Fishermen from Andhra Pradesh landed at Chinnamangadu Kuppam, a TN fishing hamlet along the Pulicat lake, and went on a rampage apparently in retaliation for an attack on other fishermen earlier.
In the incident, ADSP Stalin, who was leading a 200-strong police team, and two inspectors were stabbed with iron bars by the AP fishermen. As groups of fishermen arrived in boats, the police team had to retreat.
Inspectors P Raja Robert, Iyanarappan and SSI Elango suffered stab injuries. Constable Ramamurthy suffered head injuries. SSI Kamaraj too suffered bleeding injuries and was hospitalised.
Fortunately, the residents of the village had vacated the place on Friday night after they got wind of the attack. On information, Tiruvallur police had posted 200 officers in the village.
According to eyewitnesses, after the TN police retreated, the fishermen indulged in arson and rioting setting fire to nearly 13 huts, 30 boats and eight police vehicles in the village. “They rioted for nearly 40 minutes and some of them hurled petrol bombs. We could not go near them because each one was carrying some kind of a weapon,” said a police officer. A camera of a photojournalist was also damaged by the fishermen. After destroying property, the fishermen fled.
While frequent clashes and friction between AP and TN fishermen in hamlets along the Pulicat lake are common, the immediate reason for Saturday’s attack is said to be a recent attack on some fishermen from Nochikuppam by Chinnamangadu Kuppam fishermen.
The attack was carried out to exact revenge for an incident that happened in Pulicat lake four days ago. Fishermen from nearly 22 hamlets in the AP border area had come together for the attack, local sources said.