When Anna Salai came to a halt

CHENNAI: Chaos reigned supreme on the arterial Anna Salai after three college students, reportedly drunk, assaulted a bus driver when he asked them to alight the bus for causing nuisance. Crew of other MTC buses parked their buses on the road and chased the students who had assaulted the driver. Traffic came to a halt on the stretch for over 20 minutes. They caught hold of three students and handed them over to the police.It all began when the driver of MTC bus number 18E, plying between Tambaram and High Court, asked three students to get off the bus at the TVS bus stop. The three students, who were reportedly drunk, had boarded the bus from Nandanam Arts College bus stop and stood on the footboard. Despite repeated pleas from the conductor, the students did not budge. They also refused to buy tickets, while troubling other passengers and causing nuisance inside the bus.When the bus reached the TVS stop, the driver, Madurai of Thiruvottiyur, confronted the students and asked them to get off the bus. Enraged, the students faced off with the driver and soon, a wordy duel turned into a fisticuff.Meanwhile, the students alighted the bus and mobilised a few other students standing around the bus stop and attacked the bus driver. They assaulted him even as he ran for cover into other buses.Meanwhile, the conductor of the 18E bus stopped all other buses plying on the route and gathered the crew. By then, passersby had also gathered at the spot.Together, they chased the students and caught three of them and took them to the Thousand Lights police station.They were identified as Shafiullah, Vinod and Dinesh.Following the incident, which occurred around 2pm, one arm of the arterial Anna Salai was blocked for over 20 minutes. The buses were parked haphazardly on the road so as to not allow other vehicles to pass.The driver lodged a complaint with the Thousand Lights police who detained the studetns for further investigation. The driver was taken to a hospital for treatment.