Cop says man slapped her, CCTV proves otherwise

COIMBATORE: CCTV footage revealed that a woman police constable who alleged that she was slapped by a 45-year-old man waiting in queue in front of the State Bank of India's main branch in Tirupur on Friday, was not speaking the truth. The bank customer had been waiting in line for more than five hours when a couple entered the bank, bypassing the queue. This led to a heated argument between the woman police constable in charge of managing the crowd and a bank customer, which quickly escalated into a physical fight.
Mahalakshmi, a constable with the city armed reserve police, was asked to regulate the crowd in front of the main SBI branch on Uthukuli Road in Tirupur city. She had gone to the bank at 7am on Friday. At the time of her arrival, there were at least 150 people waiting to draw their salary. Natarajan, who had been waiting in line since 7am, noticed a young couple enter the bank without waiting their turn. When he confronted the couple, an argument erupted.
Mahalakshmi intervened and attempted to pacify Natarajan. It was at this point that he allegedly slapped her. She immediately informed her superiors who visited the spot and took him to the Tirupur North police station.
According to sources, when police officials verified the CCTV footage, they found that the police constable was the one who beat Natarajan. She staged a drama to escape departmental action. Subsequently, the issue was settled amicably as the police pacified Natarajan. He did not file a complaint against the woman police constable.
In yet another incident, a customer of Punjab National Bank was beaten severely by a group of people, who were waiting in line to withdraw money from an ATM at Binny compound area in Tirupur on Friday. According to police, the man used more than five debit cards to withdraw money.