‘18 of 45 wounded were operated to remove bullets’

Edwin assessed the situation and held consultation with doctors. Later, he visited the wards and inspected their progress and the treatment provided. Then while addressing the media, he said that a team of 30 senior doctors have been roped in from Madurai GRH and from Tirunelveli GH. 

Along with them, 70 more doctors from Thoothukudi GH are working to treat the patients. “All the patients are stable,” said Edwin Joe who also said that 18 among them were operated upon to remove bullets. 

“Six operation theateres are kept ready round the clock for emergency purposes.” Out of the total injured, 42 were admitted and three more were admitted on Wednesday, increasing the count to 45. Also 18 policemen, who sustained minor injuries were sent to Tirunelveli GH. 

A 24-hour help desk has also been setup in the ground floor and the help desk will provide details about the patients once in every two hours and the kin of the injured can avail the details from the help desk. Edwin said that a team of 10 doctors were carrying out post-mortem which was monitored by four Judicial Magistrates. “The entire process is videographed,” he said.

Even as Thoothukudi residents faced the wrath of the police for the second continuous day with police resorting to firing at Anna Nagar, an auto rickshaw driver who was returning after dropping a pregnant woman at the hospital was beaten mercilessly by the police on Wednesday. His auto rickshaw was also allegedly damaged by the police.

Following the police firing on Tuesday, there was complete shutdown in Thoothukudi district after transport facilities, including government and private buses, were brought to a halt. That was when Bala (32), an auto driver from Thalamuthunagar, received a call from a pregnant woman from his neighbourhood to drop her in a private hospital in Anna Nagar. With much hesitation due to the shutdown, Bala took shortcuts and dropped her at the hospital. But, while returning, police stopped and pulled him out of the auto. 

“Without allowing him to speak, he was attacked by policemen,” an eyewitness alleged.  Meanwhile, another group of personnel damaged his auto. Bala had suffered injuries all over his body and a fracture in his right hand. He was brought to Thoothukudi GH for treatment. “The policemen beat me so severely that I don’t think I can even get up at least for a month,” Bala told DT Next, lamenting how his family was dependent on his income from driving the auto rickshaw. Even as he was narrating the atrocity he faced, Bala fainted and was rushed inside the ward for treatment. A little later, his wife and girl child were seen rushing to the hospital along with his mother.

A day after 11 people were shot to death in Thoothukudi after protests against Sterlite turned violent, a number of outfits staged agitations and road rokos in the city. Following this, around 317 people, including women, were detained.

Over 3,000 people participated in protests in 31 places in the city, said sources in the police. In Tiruvottiyur, DMK MLA KPP Samy led the protest with 300 people, while Sudarsanam MLA led protest in Kasimedu.  

Other agitations continued in Valluvar Kottam, Chepauk, Redhills and Avadi. Reacting to this, the police detained 284 men and 33 women for staging road roko at eight places but, 188 of them were released later in the day. 

Meanwhile, security was increased at Marina beach to prevent activists from entering the stretch to stage protests. About 1,000 personnel were deployed for surveillance at different entry points from Reserve Bank of India subway upto Foreshore Estate on Kamarajar Salai as well at the beach. The police said that the extra security was just a precaution to prevent visitors being affected by untoward incidents. They added that the security cover would be removed once things are back to normal. Security was beefed up for the Secretariat, district collectorate and the police headquarters as well.