Four arrested in incident of youths chasing women travelling in car in Chennai

Chennai: Four persons have been arrested out of the seven accused, who chased in their SUV, some women travelling in a car on the East Coast Road here, a police official said on Friday.

Of the seven accused, six were college students, Police Deputy Commissioner, AC Karthikeyan (Pallikaranai) told reporters, adding four persons have been arrested and the remaining will be arrested soon. Also, two vehicles, both SUVs, involved in the incident have been seized and probe continued to be on, he said.

The incident on East Coast Road happened on January 25, 2025, by 3 AM and a probe, following the registration of FIR, has revealed the involvement of the seven men.

To a number of questions related to the incident such as the suspected motive, the official said the investigation continued to be on and hence, nothing much could be disclosed barring very basic facts.

Answering a question related to the DMK flag in the SUV of the accused, the official said one of the accused, the driver, had used it for purposes like "avoiding tollplazas," and investigation does not indicate any political connections.

The official ruled out delay in taking action and said a patrol vehicle reached the residence of the complainant within ten minutes after receiving the first complaint phone call. Subsequently, an FIR was registered and special teams were formed leading to the arrests.

One of the accused, Chandru, had two criminal cases against him and he had already served time in jail in connection with the cases and police is on the lookout for him in the chasing incident.

Days ago, a videoclip went viral that purportedly showed some women in a car being chased and intimidated by men in a SUV with a "DMK flag" and opposition parties, including the AIADMK and BJP had slammed the government over the issue and demanded stern action.

Police had said on January 29 that based on the complaint, a CSR (Community Service Register) entry was initially made and following an enquiry, it was converted into an FIR under relevant sections of the BNS and TN Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act.