<p>The CCTV pictures of the youth being stoned in the middle of a main road evoked revulsion about public indifference to the macabre incident. The victim, identified as Santosh Kumar, was mercilessly stoned in a drunken brawl.<br /><br /> As television channels telecast the video-clip of the incident, it was a throwback to an equally obnoxious incident last year, when a private TV camera caught “inaction” of the then DMK’s State Health Minister M R K Pannerselvam and others, as a policeman gasped for breath in a pool of blood after he was hacked in broad daylight on a national highway. The said minister was then passing by the spot of the crime.<br /><br />This time it was the turn of 29-year-old Santosh Kumar, who had joined four of his friends at Sai Baba Colony to have a drink at a state-run retail liquor outlet, police sources in Coimbatore told Deccan Herald over the phone on Wednesday.<br /><br />But after a few pegs, as their inebriated state took an ugly turn, they quarreled among themselves, leading to the four others accused in this case—Ramachandran, Krishnan, Murugan and Ganeshan—turning into a mad rage, sources said.<br /><br />The four accused soon began to fiercely throw stones targeting Santosh’s head, even as bystanders did nothing to nab the culprits or stop them from such a brazen uncivilised act. <br /><br />Santosh Kumar, with critical head injuries, was later admitted to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital after the incident that took place on July 10.<br />When the police began the investigation, they literally had no clues on the attackers in this case. <br /><br />Complete evidence<br /><br />But soon, the investigating team found that the CCTV secret camera installed at ARC Junction in Saibaba Colony limits, had “completely recorded the incident,” police sources in Coimbatore said.<br /><br />The probe team identified, nabbed and remanded the attackers on the basis of the video footage of the crime, the sources said. Coimbatore City Police Commissioner Amrish Puri complemented the investigating team on using the hidden surveillance camera footage in cracking the case. <br /><br />In a bid to make the Coimbatore police go high-tech, the commissioner had recently got these surveillance cameras installed at important junctions across the city, little realising they had a multi-purpose role that go beyond traffic regulation.<br /> <br />Amrish Puri said more such hidden cameras would be installed at other important junctions of the city. <br /><br />The cameras connected to the control room ensure online monitoring of the area under its surveillance.<br /></p>
<p>The CCTV pictures of the youth being stoned in the middle of a main road evoked revulsion about public indifference to the macabre incident. The victim, identified as Santosh Kumar, was mercilessly stoned in a drunken brawl.<br /><br /> As television channels telecast the video-clip of the incident, it was a throwback to an equally obnoxious incident last year, when a private TV camera caught “inaction” of the then DMK’s State Health Minister M R K Pannerselvam and others, as a policeman gasped for breath in a pool of blood after he was hacked in broad daylight on a national highway. The said minister was then passing by the spot of the crime.<br /><br />This time it was the turn of 29-year-old Santosh Kumar, who had joined four of his friends at Sai Baba Colony to have a drink at a state-run retail liquor outlet, police sources in Coimbatore told Deccan Herald over the phone on Wednesday.<br /><br />But after a few pegs, as their inebriated state took an ugly turn, they quarreled among themselves, leading to the four others accused in this case—Ramachandran, Krishnan, Murugan and Ganeshan—turning into a mad rage, sources said.<br /><br />The four accused soon began to fiercely throw stones targeting Santosh’s head, even as bystanders did nothing to nab the culprits or stop them from such a brazen uncivilised act. <br /><br />Santosh Kumar, with critical head injuries, was later admitted to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital after the incident that took place on July 10.<br />When the police began the investigation, they literally had no clues on the attackers in this case. <br /><br />Complete evidence<br /><br />But soon, the investigating team found that the CCTV secret camera installed at ARC Junction in Saibaba Colony limits, had “completely recorded the incident,” police sources in Coimbatore said.<br /><br />The probe team identified, nabbed and remanded the attackers on the basis of the video footage of the crime, the sources said. Coimbatore City Police Commissioner Amrish Puri complemented the investigating team on using the hidden surveillance camera footage in cracking the case. <br /><br />In a bid to make the Coimbatore police go high-tech, the commissioner had recently got these surveillance cameras installed at important junctions across the city, little realising they had a multi-purpose role that go beyond traffic regulation.<br /> <br />Amrish Puri said more such hidden cameras would be installed at other important junctions of the city. <br /><br />The cameras connected to the control room ensure online monitoring of the area under its surveillance.<br /></p>
