Four tourists arrested in Kodaikanal with toy gun

Dindigul: Four men from Tenkasi were arrested on Friday after a scuffle with police over posing for photographs with a toy gun which triggered a security scare near Kodaikanal as people believed it to be a real one. Police identified the arrested as Rajesh, 23, Thanga Serman, 31, Suyambu, 23, and Lakshmana Sankar, 25, of Pavoorchathiram in Tenkasi district. The men were on their way to Kodaikanal in a car. Around 9.30am, they took photos with a ‘gun' near Machur, triggering a panic among the public.Upon information, police alerted the nearby election flying squad, which intercepted the car near Srinivasapuram. When officials questioned them, the men got into a verbal spat with them. Police seized the gun and found it to be a toy. Police registered a case under sections 132 (assaulting or using criminal force against a public servant to deter them from performing their duties) and 296B (obscene acts and songs performed in public) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).