The Tamil Nadu Police has taken into custody four teenagers for assaulting a 20-year-old migrant worker from Odisha in Tiruvallur district, reported Deccan Herald on Monday.
The assault took place on Saturday evening when the worker, K Suraj, was travelling on a Chennai-Tiruttani suburban train. The four 17-year-olds, who were allegedly intoxicated, boarded the train at Tiruvalangadu.
They were carrying sickles in their bag and intended to make Instagram reels, The News Minute quoted unidentified police officials as saying.
“One of the juveniles initiated a conversation with Suraj and asked whether they could place a sickle on his neck for the reel,” Deccan Herald quoted the police as saying. “He objected and this led to an argument between the two. The argument continued till all the five arrived at Tiruttani railway station.”
At the station, they allegedly forced Suraj into an abandoned railway quarter, where three of them attacked him with sickles while the fourth minor filmed the assault before fleeing.
They later uploaded the video on social media, where one of the perpetrators is seen posing beside the injured man and flashing a victory sign, The Indian Express reported.
The four persons were traced and detained within hours before being presented at the Juvenile Justice Board in Tiruvallur, the newspaper quoted the police as saying.
Three of them were sent to the Chengalpattu Juvenile Reformation School, while the fourth, who is a student, was released on bail.
They face charges of attempted murder and criminal intimidation, according to Deccan Herald.
Suraj suffered severe cut injuries to his head, hands and cheeks. He was first treated at the Tiruttani Government Hospital and then referred to the Tiruvallur Government Medical College Hospital, The New Indian Express reported.
He is in stable condition, the police added.
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