Eight surrender before court in petrol pump violence case

CHENNAI: At least eight youngsters, who brandished machetes and unleashed violence at a petrol pump on the outskirts of the city, surrendered before the George Town court here on Tuesday. The magistrate remanded them in Puzhal prison. With the police team hot on their heels, the suspects earlier went into hiding but finally gave themselves up in court.
Deputy commissioner of police St Thomas Mount Dr K Prabhakar said, “Police teams were assigned to zero in on the suspects and we identified them through a video clip and inquiries in the neighbourhood.” He said at least 30 policemen were monitoring the suspects and tracked their movements.After they sensed that police were closing in, the suspects decided to surrender before the XV metropolitan magistrate court in George Town.
The suspects’ counsel informed the court that his clients surrendered before the court, as they were being chased by police personnel in connection with the ransacking incident at the petrol pump at Alapakkam near Peerkankaranai on Sunday night.
The suspects were identified as B Charu alias Charuhasan, 26, L Santhosh alias Santhoshkumar, 25, M Abhilash, 25, M Ajith, 25, M Venkat alias Venkatesan, 26, D Jayaraman, 25, all from Irumbuliyur, S Karthikeyan, 24, of Perungalathur, and R Mani alias Dhanasekar, 25, a resident of Sadanandhapuram. The XV metropolitan magistrate Muralikrishna Anandan ordered that they be remanded in judicial custody till July 30.
An investigation officer said, “We received a tip off from a forwarded video clip. However, the petrol pump management didn’t want to lodge a formal complaint. After persuading them, they submitted a complaint.”
The Peerkankaranai police have registered a case under IPC sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint), 294 (b) (abusing), 324 (assault with a stick or a weapon), 307 (attempted to murder), 506 (II) (criminal intimidation) against the suspects.