VILLUPURAM: A tipsy policeman was caught, while stealing a lorry from the transport office near Auroville. The police released him after an inquiry without filing any case.
According to a source, Vimalraj(35) of Makudiyaniruppu hamlet near Chidambaram in Cuddalore district drove his lorry to Pattanur near Auroville and parked it in front of a transport office on the side of Puducherry-Tindivanam bypass road for loading and went to his house on Sunday.
On Monday morning, a person broke the glass of the lorry door on the driver’s side and started driving it using a duplicate key. Seeing this, the loading workers there first thought that Vimalraj was driving the lorry. But when the vehicle started moving away from the transport office, their doubts grew.
They started chasing the lorry on bikes and stopped the lorry near a toll gate in Pattanur. Then they dragged out the culprit only to find that he was drunk. A tiff broke out and the group attacked him.
On a tip-off, cops from the Auroville station rushed to the spot and took the person to police station for inquiry.
It was then found that he is Senthilkumar(39) of Sirumathurai village near Tirukoilur and is a constable at the Kandamangalam police station.
Auroville police officials informed the matter to Kottakuppam Deputy Superintendent of Police Gnavelu, who then visited the station.
In the evening, Senthilkumar was sent out of the station and a source from the Auroville police station said that no case had been filed. Since the lorry owner didn’t give any complaint against Senthilkumar, the police have released him after a warning.
However, a source said that the police had warned the lorry owner against filing a case.
A police source from the Kandamagalam station said that Senthilkumar used to come for duty after consuming liquor and higher officials used to warn him.
Since April 9 Senthilkumar had been on leave. In the past, it was informed that a case would be filed and a department level action taken.
But in the present case, he was released without any action taken. Police officials in Auroville refused to comment on the issue.