CHENNAI: The railway police have arrested at least three college students for engaging in group clash over ‘route thala’ (transliterated from Tamil: about who is the 'thala' or king of the route) issue at Pattaravakkam railway station near Ambattur on Wednesday. A video of the students attacking each other with stones and glass bottles went viral on social media.
On Wednesday, two student groups belonging to Presidency College and Pachaiyappas College travelled in an EMU train headed from Tiruttani to Chennai Central Railway Station. As soon as the train reached Pattaravakkam railway station, some students from one of the colleges waiting to board the train, spotted the students from the other college.
“Suddenly, the students started throwing stones and empty beer bottles at each other. Passengers waiting at the railway station ran helter-skelter to take cover,” police said.
Witnesses said the ruckus came to an end only after the train left the station. Some passengers travelling on another train video-recorded the clash and the clip soon went viral on social media.
The two-minute-long clip shows a few students alighting from the train and hurling stones and bottles at other students.
Later in the day, three Presidency College students were arrested by the railway police and a hunt has been launched to arrest at least a dozen more.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that this was a follow-up to the clash of students at the same railway station on Tuesday evening when some evening college students were attacked while travelling back home.
Government railway police DSP Ramesh said, “We have written letters to Presidency College and Pachaiyappas College authorities asking them to initiate strict action against the errant students.” The officer has also suggested removing the names of the students from the rolls of the colleges for repeating the offence despite warning.