27 Chennai students arrested for intimidating witnesses during murder trial in court

New Delhi: At least 27 college students of a Chennai college were arrested from a court room on Tuesday for staring at witnesses during an ongoing murder trial. The students were accused of attempting to intimidate the witnesses in a case pertaining to the murder of a brick kiln owner in Tiruvallur last year.

As per Indian Express report, those arrested included first and second-year students of the Nandanam government Arts and Science College in Chennai and were trying to help their classmate who is a cousin of two men accused in the murder case.

According to the police, the students were mobilised by the accused and were trying to scare the witnesses in a move that seemed to have been inspired by actor Dhanush's latest movie 'Asuran'.

On being alerted by one of the witnesses, the police managed to arrest 27 out of some 30 present in the court.

An official who was present in the court said, “There were six witnesses to be heard. As the court procedure was on, one of the witnesses alerted an officer about the suspicious presence of youth inside the hall who were staring at him and others. As the statements of witnesses were being heard in a tense environment, these students had been asked to intimidate them. There were some 30 students and we managed to arrest 27.”

The arrested students were remanded to Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai on judicial custody for 15 days and have been charged under IPC sections 195A, 447 and 147, reported India Today.