TIRUCHY: The Tiruchy city police shot and injured two accused in their legs after they allegedly tried to attack a police team with machetes and escape while being taken on a police jeep near Kuzhumayi Amman Temple in the city on Monday afternoon.
Police said the accused, brothers Duraisamy and Somasundaram of MGR Nagar near Vannarapettai in Tiruchy, had 70 cases, including three for murder, pending against them. Special teams have been searching for them for the past two years. They were secured by the Woraiyur crime police from a house in Tiruchy city early on Monday.
After questioning, they were taken by the police team to a spot located on Uyyakondan canal adjacent to Tiruchy Government Hospital to recover stolen gold items hidden by them. When the team reached the spot, the accused allegedly wrenched the jeep steering wheel and the vehicle hit a grill gate of a farmland on the roadside.
Using the chaos that ensued, the accused got hold of their seized weapons kept in the jeep by police and ran into a nearby grove. When three police personnel, including Woraiyur crime inspector Mohan chased them, the accused attacked them with their machetes.
‘About 70 cases pending against accused’
To defend his team, Mohan shot and injured them on their legs with his service pistol. The three police personnel and the two accused were later admitted to the Tiruchy Mahatma Gandhi Government Hospital for treatment. Speaking to reporters, Tiruchy city police commissioner M Sathiya Priya said they were shot by police in self-defence.
“The accused were linked to three murder cases, one of which was in Tiruchy city, and several crime and drug cases. Around 70 cases were pending against them,” she said. “It’s a lesson for rowdies indulging in drug peddling and criminal activities. If they attack police, they will get severe punishment,” she said.