Police constable injured in gunfire from own rifle in expo dies in Coimbatore
COIMBATORE: A police constable, injured in gunfire from his own rifle on Friday evening in Coimbatore, died at the private hospital early on Saturday.The deceased, R Kalimuthu (29), attached to the Coimbatore City Armed Reserve Battalion II police, was in service since 2013.A case of attempt to commit suicide booked under Section 309 of the IPC by the Race Course Police was later changed to section 174 (accidental fire) of CrPC.
Kalimuthu, a native of Melathulukkankulam village in Virudhunagar district, was deployed for guard duty at the police stall of a government exhibition held in Gandhipuram in the city. More than 32 government departments had opened their stalls at the exhibition. The city police had displayed their weapons at the stall where Kalimuthu was on duty.
According to sources, at around 3.40 pm on Friday, when he was alone at the stall, a bullet from his SLR pierced his right abdomen and exited through the back. Staff from neighbouring stalls, who rushed to the spot after hearing the shot, found him in a pool of blood. Kalimuthu was later admitted to a private hospital. He died without responding to treatment at 12.40 am on Saturday. The body was then shifted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem, police said. Kalimuthu is survived by his wife Salai Thillainayaki and two daughters aged three and four.
According to sources, Kalimuthu had borrowed around Rs 20 lakh and lost it in online gambling. Meanwhile, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, citing the incident, questioned the State government for not bringing an ordinance to ban online gambling even after the expert committee submitted its report to the government.
Former CM and AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami too, citing the constable’s death, questioned the DMK government on Saturday over the delay in bringing an ordinance to ban online gambling.