Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President K Annamalai in a statement claimed that rowdies beat up an eatery manager in Tirumangalam, Chennai, for refusing to pay protection money. Along with his statement, Annamalai on X (formerly known as Twitter) shared a clip of the CCTV footage wherein five persons can be seen beating up a man. However, the Greater Chennai Police  (GCP) refuted these claims and said that a case on this regard was registered on Tuesday, November 14, at the V-5 Tirumangalam police station but there was no mention of “protection money”.

Annamalai claimed, “In Tirumangalam, Chennai, rowdies have beaten up an eatery manager for refusing to pay protection money. It is learnt that the police department has not arrested the people behind the attack despite a complaint from the eatery owner, leaving one to assume that the State govt wishes people to adapt to an unsafe neighbourhood.” 

However, in the First Information Report (FIR), Ganesan (who was beaten up by five persons), an employee of Kamadhenu Rose Milk Shop at Kora Food Street, has stated that Jetson, an ex-employee of an eatery located nearby, assaulted him on November 12 along with four others. Ganesan said that Jetson had first assaulted his employee and that he had intervened to stop the fight, following which Jetson, who was allegedly drunk, attacked him with four others.

Ganesan, who sustained several injuries on his face, was rushed to a private hospital for treatment by his co-workers.

The GCP in a statement revealed, “Initial Investigation reveals that Jetson is an ex-employee of the nearby eatery and it is a case of dispute between Jetson and Ganesan over the issue of Jetson assaulting a boy working under Ganesan. Video footage of the chain of events  has also been found which corroborates the same. The claim of demand of protection money being  the  motive behind this incident is baseless  and unsubstantiated. There is no such mention in the complaint of Ganesan. Efforts are being taken to secure the accused.