CHENNAI: A 17-year-old boy was picked up from his house in Kannagi Nagar by four policemen in civvies and thrashed severely on Friday night.
Police sources said the cops from a special team of the Mylapore police mistook the boy to be a member of a gang of mobile phone thieves. The bpy's family approached the Chennai police commissioner’s office Saturday seeking action against the cops.
The teenager, Siva (name changed), had dropped out of Class VII and was assisting his father as a casual labourer at Pudupet.
After the thrashing by the police, he had deep gashes on his lips and and injuries on his arms and torso.
Siva’s elder brother, V Vignesh, told Express, “On Friday, my brother returned home from work at around 10.30 pm. Suddenly, four men barged into the house, claiming to be policemen. They dragged Siva out of the house. They said he was involved in a mobile theft case.”
According to Vignesh, the policemen took Siva away in a white SUV with ‘POLICE’ written on it and bearing the registration number TN 20 G 0711. They told the family that two of Siva’s friends had already been taken into custody.
“We tried to follow the police vehicle, but lost track of it. After that, we approached the Mylapore police station but found that my son was not there,” the boy’s father Vincent said.
Siva told Express that he was blindfolded and beaten up. "I learnt that I was at the Velachery MRTS only when I overhead one of the policemen speak on the phone.”
At around 1.30 pm, the cops left the boy at the SRP Tools bus stop near Tidel Park after realising that it was mistaken identity. “They gave me Rs 10 and asked me to get back home in a share auto. They warned me not to reveal the incident to anyone,” the teenager said.
Reacting to the incident, a senior police officer said the boy was recently arrested by the Taramani police in a cell phone theft case. However, police commissioner T K Rajendran has ordered a probe into the incident.