Drug addicts held for stone pelting

CHENNAI: A special Railway Protection Force (RPF) team has arrested 15 drug addicts who over the last two years regularly pelted stones at commuters at suburban railway stations between Mambalam and Tambaram at night. Several persons, including a TTE, were injured in a recent incident involving the gang, RPF sources said. Most of the injured in these incidents were women, they added.
“Following regular complaints from commuters about such incidents between Mambalam and Tambaram, especially late at night, a special team nabbed the gang,” RPF sub-inspector S Maharajan (Mambalam) told TOI.The whole operation took nearly two months, police said.
Maharajan said one six-member group gathered near the Aranganayagam Bridge between Mambalam and Saidapet stations, a three-member gang assembled near the Saidapet station subway and the third gang between Saidapet and Guindy stations.
“All these places were called black spots,” the railway police said adding that these groups met in these places, took drugs and consumed liquor. Then, they would start pelting stones on running trains. “Some of them would inject Ketamine into their veins,” the official said. These men also used abusive words against women commuters, especially those in the ladies’ coach. If a woman reacted, they would run up and pelt her with stones.
“These people were indulging in these incidents for the last two years. However, no one was willing to lodge a formal complaint due to fear,” the official said. Often, bets were placed on who would hit the target accurately.
A TTE on Cholan express, injured in a recent incident, was treated at the Chengalpet railway station.
Under the guidance of senior divisional security commissioner S R Gandhi, a special team nabbed the culprits. Most of them, labourers from the Saidapet area, were drunk when caught. They were identified as K Nagaraj, 21, S Vinod, 27, K Venkatesan, 35, K Srinivasan, 41, D Mahesh, 35, Yesuraj, 29, G Murthy, 24, V Adhi, 23, R Ravi, 22, D Selvam, 32, V Krishnamurthy, 29, T Murali, 21, S Venkatesh, 22, K Venkatesh, 23, and Kumar, 27.