Although the cop's actions invited wrath online, the police said that the delivery agent had been booked in a lot of petty cases earlier and on the day, he attempted to attack the officer.

A video of a Tamil Nadu traffic police officer beating up an agent of online food delivery service Zomato in full public view at Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district has gone viral on social media.

The policeman has been identified as Dharmaraj, a special sub-inspector with the traffic division in the Srivilliputhur region and the delivery agent as Venkatesh.

The incident happened on Sunday and in the video, Dharmaraj is seen getting up from his bike and holding the delivery agent by his collar. Dharmaraj goes on to slap Venkatesh several times before taking him to the police station.

Even though Dharmaraj’s actions invited wrath online, the police said that the delivery agent had been booked in a lot of petty cases earlier and on the day, he attempted to attack the officer. It was in self-defence that the policeman used force to arrest the man, they said.