Four held for attacking devotees going to church festival

Police personnel deployed at Chinthamani near Puliyangudi in Tenkasi district after four persons attacked the devotees going to the church in two vans on Thursday night.

| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Puliyangudi police have arrested four persons who unleashed a brutal attack on two persons when the victims, along with their families and relatives, were travelling in two vans to attend the church feast.Police said 30 persons from four families from Chinthamani near Puliyangudi in the district left on Thursday night to attend the annual feast of Our Lady of Assumption Church in Kamanaickenpatti near Kovilpatti. When the van reached West Car Street, the driver of the first van saw an oncoming bike at lightning speed. The van driver, to avert a possible accident, stopped his vehicle on the left side of the road.However, the three youths, who were riding on the bike, stopped on the road and picked up a heated argument with the van driver. When they assaulted the van driver, S. Alistair Jacob, who was travelling in the van, recorded it with his mobile phone. Agitated over this, the youths, who were joined by another one, thrashed Mr. Alistair Jacob and his father Sahayaraj, with logs and escaped.With bleeding injuries Mr. Alistair Jacob and Mr. Sahayaraj were taken to the Puliyangudi Government Hospital for treatment.Demanding the arrest of the foursome, the relatives of the victims hoisted black flags in their area and started staging a dharna in front of a private hospital. As there was no sign of the culprits being arrested, the protesters blocked vehicular traffic on the busy Rajapalayam – Kollam Highway that paralysed the movement of vehicles.The agitation was withdrawn after the police informed the protesters that the attackers – Maharaja, Mahesh, Muniyandi and Vishal – had been arrested, the agitation was withdrawn.Sources in the police said the youths, all belonging to Scheduled Caste, had indulged in an ‘unprovoked attack’ on the people travelling in the van, which had been halted on the roadside after seeing the bike coming from the opposite direction at lightning speed.“The CCTV footages collected from the scene of crime and the nearby roads suggest that the culprits had been indulging in road rage just to terrorise the people around. Hence, the van driver had stopped the vehicle on the roadside to avoid accident. However, the bikers had attacked the people in the van after picking up heated argument with them,” the sources said. Published - August 14, 2026 07:52 pm IST