In a surprising incident on Wednesday, two stray dogs helped catch a man who allegedly stabbed a woman with a knife in Chennai.
At 6:30am, Suchismitha who hails from Kolkata, left her hostel in West Mambalam and was walking towards the bus stop when her former colleague, Raghunath, stabbed her in her stomach with a knife.
Ramu, an autodriver, who witnessed the incident told The News Minute, “The man stabbed the woman and when two of us tried to stop him, he threatened us. Then two stray dogs started chasing him because of which the public caught him and handed him over to the police."
"He (Raghunath) was on a bike and threatened us with the knife. Someone called the two dogs, they came rushing and tried to bite him. He lost his balance and fell off from the bike," another resident of West Mambalam told the media.
Ramu then took the woman to Apollo Hospital in Teynampet, where she was admitted.
In fact, CCTV visuals show the woman leaving the hostel and rushing back after being stabbed. The visuals also show the two dogs standing near the auto rickshaw in which she was taken to the hospital.
Suchismitha running back to the hostel. Screenshot courtesy PTTV.
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However, the West Mambalam police denied that the dogs had helped catch Raghunath.
“The police station is near the place where the incident happened. When the man was running away, people standing on the street caught him and handed him over to the police,” said Inspector Ravi.
The police said that Suchismitha was now in a stable condition.
Raghunath hails from Sivakasi and was working with Suchismitha in an automobile company in Minjur. Last year, Raghunath and Suchismitha allegedly had an argument over the latter's accusation that Raghunath had harassed her.
After Suchismitha complained to the company, Raghunath was terminated from his job. He has been unemployed since.
This is not for the first time that stray dogs have come to the rescue of people.
Last year in November, four stray dogs had sat guarding an abandoned baby in Purulia district of West Bengal until someone came along. And even as the baby was being taken to safety, the dogs followed to make sure that she was okay.
In 2015, another stray dog named Pingu risked his life to attack a man who was climbing a building’s wall in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. The man had a knife and attacked Pingu, injuring him badly. Pingu was mute, and while he couldn’t bark to express his pain, he continued to run after the intruder and drove him away. He was taken to a hospital by a resident of the colony the morning after the incident.