An unidentified gang barged into a students’ only bus and assaulted three students traveling in it in Kandamangalm area in Villupuram district on Thursday morning. Police said that the attack was a fallout of a quarrel between the students and the gang members when they got into the students’ only bus on Wednesday.
According to the police, the three students, Pugazhenthi (22),Arunkumar (22) and Vimal (22) were injured in the assault and admitted to the hospital.
Kandamangalam Police said that the students only bus is operated from Thavalkuppam to Molapakkam. The students of various educational institutions use the bus to reach their destinations at a concessional rate of Rs 1. Often, there were quarrels between students and the adults, when the latter tried to enter the students’ only bus. There were allegations that these outsiders enter the crowded bus and misbehave with the girl students. Some students even charged that they enter the bus just to harass the girls traveling. A few days ago, a complaint was filed by the students in this regard with the Nettapakkam Police.
On Wednesday, when a gang of outsiders tried to gain entry into the bus, the bus crew objected to it. The three students, studying in an ITI, also joined and this resulted in a verbal duel.
The members of the gang entered the same bus on Thursday morning at Ramareddikulam. They picked up the students and assaulted the three students- Pugazhenthi, Arunkumar and Vimal with sticks and small knives. When other students interfered, the gang members fled the spot.
Following this, the other students of the bus resorted to a road blockade and picketed the Nettapakkam police station. They were pacified by the police who assured them of action. Nettappakam police personnel informed their counterparts in Kandamangalam about the incident as it happened in their station limits.
Kandamangalam police registered a case and are in the process of identifying the culprits.