Members of the public in Selaiyur caught a man from West Bengal who was found moving suspiciously and had scaled the compound wall of a house on Tuesday night but it took the police nearly two hours to send a vehicle to take the “suspect” to the station.
A resident of Ganapathiuram area, who was waiting to pick his daughter returning from work, spotted the Bengali, scaling a wall on VVS Iyer Street around 2 am.
He alerted his two sons and a local politician who arrived the scene with around 20 people and caught hold of the “suspect”. The man was tied up and beaten up by the residents of the area, who took him to be a thief.
A policeman from Selaiyur police station reached the spot, on being alerted by a person in the area.
The man told the people that he was traveling by train from Howrah to Madurai and had alighted at the Tambaram station to use a toilet on the platform.
But before he could go return, the train had left the station, so he had then started wandering in the area, he told the people.
The “suspect” also produced a valid ticket. However, the people were not ready to let him go and asked the policeman to take him to the police station 1 km away.
The constable called up the station and asked for a vehicle to be sent to take the “suspect” to the station.
“The policemen at the station advised the constable to leave the suspect there and come back, saying that he could be a mad man roaming around.
It was only after local people called up 100 and sought help a police vehicle arrived at the spot at around 4.20 am to take away the man, who was tied up and mercilessly beaten up by the people of the area,” police sources said.
Later on Wednesday evening, the police said let the suspect, Mazra, leave the station.