Chennai: The suicide bid of a woman police Inspector, who was at loggerheads with her counterpart working in the law & order wing, was thwarted by cops on security duty at the Secretariat complex on Friday afternoon.
The incident sparked tension in the high security complex, which has enhanced security cover after the DMK MLAs recently conducted a mock assembly there.
The woman Inspector in her khakis walked into the complex carrying a bottle filled with kerosene. She had not been flagged by the personnel on security duty on a day on which a session of the Assembly came to a close.
The cop, who had direct access to the VIP gate in the Secretariat, pulled out the bottle and poured kerosene on herself at around 12.45 pm. The security personnel in the vicinity responded quickly and overpowered her after a struggle.
The woman, who is an athlete, gave her colleagues a tough time before she could be subdued. She was subsequently removed from the complex and is likely to face the departmental action.
Preliminary investigations revealed that relations between the woman Inspector, Kanchana, who is posted in the Tiruvottiyur all women police station and the Law & Order Inspector, Prakash, were very poor and that they were freely trading charges against each other. Making matters worse, they sit in the same building with their rooms located opposite each other on the same floor.
There were instances wherein both had refused to listen to cases where their jurisdictions overlapped. Recently, the two clashed over parking their vehicles in the station compound.
However, there were no adverse remarks against both the officers and they were thought of as clean cops. The woman had earlier made representations to her superiors seeking relief.
