MADURAI: Movies have their impact, and at times, they instill a false sense of courage and bravado.
Just like a scene out from a Kollywood flick, a history-sheeter, along with his friend, locked a head constable in a room inside the V Chatrapatti police station and damaged the station’s properties, as the police were allegedly targeting him, his family and friends.
The head constable had to languish hours inside the room, until Saturday morning when his colleagues turned up for duty.
The district police have formed special teams to nab the suspect who is on the run.
The police said the incident happened around 1 am on Saturday at the police station under the Peraiyur sub-division when head constable V Palpandi was on night duty. He was alone at the station. Two persons – including the history-sheeter, M Prabakaran, alias Porali Prabakaran from V Chatrapatti – assumed that the personnel from the station had taken Prabakaran’s father, Muthuvel, for inquiry and had a heated argument with Palpandi. However, Muthuvel was, in fact, picked up by the Dindigul police and was released later.
As the argument took an ugly turn, Palpandi, in order to escape from them, entered a room and locked himself from inside. At the time, Prabakaran locked the room from the outside and damaged the station’s property, including the computer, before fleeing the spot. The identity of the second person who accompanied Prabakaran is yet to be confirmed, the police said.
Prabakaran (28) is one of the accused in the murder case of M Alagendran from Kovilangulam in the V Chatrapatti police station limits in 2024.
Madurai SP B K Arvind told TNIE Palpandi did not sustain any injury but was threatened. The station’s property was damaged. Prabakaran was upset as he was arrested in a 2024 murder case and later detained under the Goondas Act. His friends were recently arrested for their involvement in criminal cases.
In the latest incident, he felt that his father was also arrested in a case. Feeling that the police were targeting him, his family and friends, he indulged in a heated argument, which ended in the incident.
A senior police officer from Dindigul said Muthuvel had no case pending against him in the district but was taken into custody for inquiry and released as he had no involvement in their suspected case.
Former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, on X platform, urged authorities to take stringent action against those involved in the incident. He also blamed the state government for not being able to safeguard even the policemen and the station, and questioned how the government could ensure the safety of people in the state.
Thirumangalam constituency MLA RB Udhayakumar from AIADMK visited the station and staged a protest condemning the incident. BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran blamed the state government for not being able to control the criminals.
Union Minister of State L Murugan, in a post on X, said there’s no safety even for policemen in the state.
The V Chatrapatti police have registered a case and launched an inquiry.