Anthony Rubin, 31, an animal welfare officer (AWO) based in Chennai, is a calm and cool-headed man. On Monday, however, he was seething in anger after seeing video of a man standing on a terrace grinning, and flinging a dog three storey down. He then resolved that the perpetrator would not go unpunished.
By wee hours of Tuesday, Rubin, along with two of his animal activist friends, Shravan Krishnan, and Jennifer Jacob Anand, ensured that they not only zeroed down on the culprits – Ashish Paul, who recorded the video and Gautam Sudharshan, who flung the dog – but also got an FIR registered against them. They were shocked to know that the suspects behind the heinous act are final-year medical students, studying MBBS at Madha College, Chennai.
While going to the press the two suspects who went absconding since Monday evening were still on the run, but as per the activists their families claimed that they were on their way to surrender themselves.
Video triggered mission:
"I saw the video around 4.30pm on Monday and froze and decided to rush to the office of Commissioner of Police, Chennai to ensure cops act immediately. We managed to meet him and approached the Additional Commissioner K Shankar," said Rubin adding that while he was coordinating with the cops, Shravan and Jennifer started using social media asking people to trace these people and also circulated the images amongst their own contacts.
By around 9pm the trio had concrete evidences as suspects were identified by some people to be students of Madha College. "We regrouped in the city and travelled to Kundrathur police station at around 11.30 pm under whose jurisdiction the college is located and registered an FIR under Section 428, 429 of IPC and Section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act," said Rubin adding that once the case was registered they decided to head to the college to get them arrested.
The chase
The trio, along with cops, reached the college post midnight and found out the area where the suspects stayed. "It was extremely difficult to trace the house as it was late in the night and we had to go knocking at almost every door in the area till we managed to find the three-storey house where they stayed. We went to the terrace and identified it from the video," shared Jennifer.
"These two had already got the wind of how they were being searched for by almost everyone in Chennai for their heinous act and had gone absconding. On Tuesday morning, cops with help of the college found the contact details of their parents and told them to speak to the duo and ask them to surrender," informed Shravan adding that the cops had already sent two teams to arrest the culprits and the chairman of Madha college also spoke to the parents of the duo asking them to surrender, failing which they won't be allowed to write their exams.
"The parents have promised to bring both of them to the police by Tuesday night or Wednesday early morning," said Shravan, pointing out that there is no clue about the whereabouts of the dog.
Praise for the trio
The trio, hailed as Chennai's new heroes for taking up the issue, opine that it was not only them but the entire Chennai's animal lovers who deserve the credit. "Everyone who saw the video wanted the culprits to be booked by the law and so many people helped us and we resolved to ensure that how much ever running around we had to do we will not give up till these two men were booked," said Jennifer who was in the police station till the wee hours of Tuesday, along with her two-year-old daughter.
NG Jayasimha, managing director of HSI/India, who had announced the Rs1 lakh award to anyone providing valid information leading to arrest and conviction of the accused, said that the trio will get the reward once the guilty are booked.
"We will provide all assistance to the three brave animal activists and they have set the golden path for others to emulate. We will seek a full physiological check up and intervention and hope that the culprits are booked as per law." he said.
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