Two days after a video of DMK cadre beating up staff at a biryani shop in Chennai went viral, the police have arrested seven of the ten accused in the assault. The arrests come shortly after the party's working President MK Stalin visited the restaurant and expressed his support to the owner and staff. The main accused DMK Youth Wing Secretary KL Yuvaraj and member Diwakar, who’ve since been suspended from the party, are, however, still absconding.
Amongst the arrested are M Kishore (23), J 'Kutty' Kishore (24), M Sathish (23), N Karthik (22), M Suresh (21), V Manikandan (23), and H Ruthara Kumar (26). Satish, an MCA student from Chennai’s Mangadu is also yet to be apprehended. The DMK, meanwhile, which was at the receiving end of criticism, suspended the youth wing members stating that their behaviour was not in line with the party discipline and that they brought disrepute to the party. A formal statement was issued by General Secretary K Anbazhagan, while Stalin himself took to Twitter to condemn their act.
"We took their photos around and enquired about them. We caught one of the accused and he led us to the others," says an investigating official. "We now aim to apprehend those who are absconding before they apply for bail," he adds.
Yuvraj and his friends assaulted the employees of Salem RR Biriyani shop in Virugambakkam on Sunday when the workers refused to entertain their demand for free food. The act was caught on the CCTV camera installed inside the hotel and the video went viral on social media.
In the video, the DMK youth wing secretary, Yuvraj, is seen having an argument with the hotel cashier, who is seen sitting behind the counter. Four other young men, who are Yuvraj's cronies, stand behind watching the altercation.
A while later, Yuvraj leans over the counter, slaps the cashier and pushes away stacks of papers kept on the counter. Yuvraj and friends surround a waiter who tries to intervene and slap him too.
The cashier, who rushes forward to help the waiter, receives heavy blows from the men. He is then hit on the face around ten times in twenty seconds, mainly by Yuvraj, and then the others take turns to hit him.
According to the hotel staff, the men visited the shop demanding free biriyani and told them that they were on their way to Kauvery Hospital, where the DMK supremo Karunanidhi has been admitted.