Familiar chaos on day one as college students ‘hijack’ buses

Following the ‘nuisance’ they created, the police detained 40 students from various colleges but released them later on personal bail.

An MTC bus plying on route number 40A (from Avadi to Anna Square) was hijacked by the students, with more than 20 of them standing on the footboard or sitting on top of the roof, besides dancing and posing for videos.

When it reached near Pulla Avenue in Aminjikarai on Poonamallee High Road, the police tried to nab the students. The youngsters tried to run away, but the Aminjikarai police managed to nab 13 students from Pachaiyappa’s College.

But the police were not successful when they tried to catch about 20 students from a college in Royapettah who hijacked a bus plying from Broadway to Mandaveli (route number 21) and travelled on the roof. The students escaped when the police tried to nab them near Royapettah government hospital.

In another incident, four students who were waiting near RTO office on New Avadi Road carrying an opening day banner to hijack the bus plying on route number 47A (ICF to Besant Nagar) were secured bythe Ayanavaram police.

In other instances, a team from Kilpauk secured 16 students who were found indulging in unruly behaviour on MTC buses, while seven Presidency College students were detained by the Washermenpet police when they tried to hijack a bus. All of them were released on station bail.

The students celebrated the first day of the new academic year with such activities despite the city police had anticipated trouble and made arrangements to prevent it. Even the warning that it could jeopardise their chances of going for further studies seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.