Chennai: Four men have been arrested for assaulting a head constable at Pondy Bazaar last night. According to the police, at 1.30 am, a grade one police constable, Karthikeyan, was on night duty at Thirumalai Pillai Road and heading to Kodambakkam High Road when he saw four men standing near a four-wheeler at Bharathi Nagar bus stand and talking to a transgender person.
Karthikeyan, who was in his vehicle opposite the road, asked the group to disperse. Instead, the men, allegedly under the influence of alcohol, did not pay heed.
When Karthikeyan again asked them to leave, the gang abused him and crossed the road and began roughing him up.
They took the lathi from the vehicle and attacked him. When Karthikeyan tried to take the walkie-talkie to call for help, they snatched it from him and damaged it.
According to sources, passersby on the road saw the policeman being attacked and did not help. Another policeman on rounds, Kulandaivelu, saw the incident and intervened. He relayed the message to control room and Inspector Jayalakshmi from Thousand Lights arrived at the spot with two policemen.
The men tried to escape claiming to be advocates, which turned out to be a lie. The police arrested Sulaiman (32), Afzar (35), Mohammed Noushad Ali (32) and Mohammed Riswan. The four are from north Chennai. The police have registered a case. Karthikeyan is undergoing treatment at Royapettah Government Hospital.