CHENNAI: Two suicide bids - by a social activist and a history-sheeter - on Thursday evening at the DGP office on the Marina and at the City Police Office in Vepery caused a flutter. Sources said Seeman, an activist from Silambur in Andimadam taluk, Ariyalur district, along with his parents, Gnanambal, and Chandrakanthan, arrived at the gates of the DGP office, and doused kerosene on himself. Alert cops prevented him from setting himself afire.
Preliminary investigations revealed Seeman was booked on complaints foisted by Andimadam Police at the behest of local politicos for his activism against the sand mafia. He claimed he was forced to take the drastic step after the representations he made to the DGP office and the Home Secretary failed to elicit any action against the cops. He was pacified by the cops on security duty who advised him not to repeat such modes of protests in future.
In the incident reported in the City Police Office, Bharat (22), resident of Naval Hospital Road, Periamet and a history-sheeter with the local police, came bleeding with multiple cuts on his neck. His mother Saraswathi, who accompanied him, said that the cops from Periamet Police kept visiting her house frequently to pick him up for interrogation. The security personnel removed him and rushed him to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) where he is being treated for self-inflicted injuries. Cops maintained that it was a routine procedure to keep an eye on suspects with a criminal past.
Bharat was recently enlarged on bail after being involved in a clash in the neighbourhood last month. Besides theft cases pending against him, he is also a serial offender. A relative from the same neighbourhood revealed that Bharat is into drugs and would take to crimes often.
