Chennai Police SSI attacked by friends succumbs; three arrested

CHENNAI: A 54-year-old special sub inspector (SSI) with the Chennai police, who was assaulted by his friends a week ago after an argument outside a commercial complex in Egmore, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.

The Egmore police have arrested three persons, who were hiding near Bengaluru, on murder charges.

The deceased SSI, Rajarajaman, was attached to the Armed Reserve (AR) and used to be deployed on security detail at the prisoners' ward in Government Stanley Medical College Hospital. On July 18 (Friday), his day off, Rajaraman went to a commercial complex on Pantheon Road with his friends, Rakesh (30) of Neelankarai and Sarath Kumar alias Ayyappan (36) of Kannagi Nagar.

There, they consumed liquor, and after spending some time inside the complex, Rajaraman was talking with his friends outside the building when the incident happened.

According to the police, two of his friends who were in an inebriated condition assaulted the policeman and pushed him down. In the impact, Rajaraman suffered head injuries and fell unconscious. Seeing Rajaraman's state, Rakesh and Sarath fled the scene. It was members of the public who rushed to Rajaraman’s aid and moved him to a private hospital.

From there, he was shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) where he died without responding to treatment.

The Egmore police, who had earlier registered an attempt to murder case, altered the section to murder and arrested Rakesh and Sarath. They also arrested Rakesh's friend Navodith (26) for providing refuge to the assailants.

The trio was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.