Tension grips Anna Salai as armed students chase rivals, creating flutter

Chennai: Tension prevailed on arterial Anna Salai on Friday when a group of college students wielding deadly weapons like sickles started chasing students from another college. Police managed to catch one of the students while many others managed to disappear into the smaller lanes.

Bus commuters waiting near the Tarpore Towers stop were in for a shock as students armed with sickles and knives were running on the road with policemen chasing them.

Around noon, the students from the government arts college, Nandanam, traveling in an MTC route 18K bus plying between George Town and Saidapet West, noticed a group of students from Presidency College travelling in an MTC route 27L  bus plying between Egmore and Mogappair West near Tarapore Towers. According to the police, as soon as the students from Nandanam college noticed the other group, they got down with lethal weapons and ran towards the bus in which the Presidency students were traveling. Luckily, the MTC bus (27L) moved quickly before the armed gang could reach it.

Meanwhile, police personnel stationed in the vicinity swung into action which made the students of Nandanam Arts College to give up their attack plans. The cops attached to the patrol chased and managed to nab Parthsarathy of Vysarpadi, a second year B.A history student of Nandanam college, who was in possession of a knife. Police are also on the lookout for several other students including Sudarshan, Divarakar, Praveen, and Guru who were part of the gang which caused mayhem on Anna Salai.

“Had the police patrol not intervened, the armed gang could have hacked several Presidency college students, who were travelling by the other bus,” a senior police official said. The city police had made many arrests in the recent past in connection with such clashes and quarrels among students fuelled by intra-college and inter-college rivalry based on bus routes.