Pachaiyappa’s and Presidency colleges in Chennai are notorious for their long-standing rivalry and violent gang wars. However, things took a turn for the worse on Tuesday, when two groups allegedly from the said colleges, vandalised the Pattaravakam railway station in the city, injuring three people and chasing away commuters.
The students were on the Tiruvallur – Chennai suburban train route when the fight broke out about establishing "supremacy" on the train route. The brawl turned ugly as the train stopped at Pattaravakam station and the Pachaiyappa’s group allegedly alighted the train, brandishing knives and sickles at the Presidency college students, according to a TNIE report.
“To scare the other students, they had carried the weapons,” the students had reportedly told police. The accused students had confessed to the cops, according to the report.
On witnessing the incident, one of the passengers alerted the railway police who rushed to the spot. However, the students had escaped by then, said the report.
The report also confirms that three students, Jagadeesan (18) and R Dinesh Kumar (19), both from Presidency College and Vijay (18), all residents of Tiruvallur and surrounding areas were injured.
The railway police have arrested Mohan Raghupathy, a final year BSC Botany student of Pachaiyappa’s college and the city police has launched a search group to nab the other perpetrators.
“Police have informed me that 5 students of our college were involved in the incidents. Two of them, Muthu Pandi (BA Philosophy) and Aakash don’t study here any more as they were expelled following a similar incident sometime ago. None of our students has sustained injuries,” Kaliraj, principal of Pachayappa’s College, told TNM.
It may be noted that a similar case of vandalism was recorded last October, when a video of students traveling on a train, holding sickles and knives went viral. These cases of gang wars, allegedly, originate from an inter-college rivalry contest called “route thala”, where students of participating colleges try to establish control and supremacy over the specific route. Colleges on this specific route are Presidency, Nandanam and Pachaiyappa’s.