COIMBATORE: A brave head police constable foiled an attempt by three smugglers to escape in a gutka-laden sports utility vehicle (SUV), by clinging on the roof of the vehicle for nearly 40km on Avinashi Road till a highway patrol team successfully intercepted the gang at Karumathampatti on Sunday morning.Acting on a tip-off, a police team led by Kovilpalayam sub-inspector Vignesh and head constable M Velmurugan attempted to stop a SUV (KA 05 NG 7692) at Vilankurchi near Kovilapalayam around 5.45am.Velmurugan climbed atop the SUV when the driver slowed the vehicle but refused to halt and accelerated the vehicle towards Avinashi. The head constable clung atop the SUV by tightly holding roof rails of the vehicle despite the smugglers driving the vehicle at high speed.Vignesh immediately informed the Karumathampatti police and highway patrol team on Avinashi Road, who chased the vehicle for nearly an hour and eventually intercepted it at Karumathampatti and saved Velmurugan without any injuries.Police found more than 100kg of gutka products in the car and identified three smugglers travelling in the car as P Babu Dhara,27, A Rajesh, 23 and S Suresh, 20, all from Rajasthan. They were smuggling the consignment from Karnataka to Coimbatore. Police seized both the consignment and the car.Meanwhile, prohibition and excise minister K Muthusamy and minister for backward classes welfare R S Rajakannappan spoke to Velmurugan over a video call and congratulated him for his bravery.The ministers said they would take Velmurugan’s daring act to the attention of the chief minister C Joseph Vijay.Later speaking to TOI, Velmurugan said, “When we approached the vehicle, the driver stopped and rolled down the window. While we were questioning the occupants, he suddenly started moving the car and closed the window, trapping the SI’s hand inside. Our SI ran for a few metres with his hand still trapped inside. Luckily, the SI fell on the road without any injuries, but I climbed atop the SUV. I realised that the suspects should not be allowed to escape, so I held on to the rails tightly till they were captured. As police personnel, we were simply doing our duty.”
