Chennai: Following the hooch tragedy, which claimed the lives of over 50 people, and the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state president K. Armstrong, the Tamil Nadu Law-and-Order Police have been instructed to have their hand gun on them at all times, even when away from the police station.
This is one among a series of changes the Tamil Nadu Police Department has implemented to its working patterns in order to address the law-and-order situation in the state, which has come under scrutiny.
Apart from the order regarding the carrying of firearms, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) S. Davidson Devasirvatham has also said that the policemen in the state would be once again trained to know the circumstances in which to use the gun and the lathi.
“Everybody above the rank of sub-inspector has a gun, but nobody carries it unless it is absolutely necessary. It was made mandatory after Sylendra Babu became the DGP, but after he retired, the practice was abandoned. Now, after the murder of a BSP leader, we have been asked to carry them when we go on rounds,” an inspector with the Greater Chennai Police told ThePrint.
Three days after Armstrong’s murder near Perambur in Chennai, the then ADGP (L&O) A. Arun was made the Commissioner of Greater Chennai Police and replaced by ADGP (Headquarters) Devasirvatham.
Soon after taking charge, both officials said that their first duty was to curb the activities of the rowdy elements in the state.
While Devasirvatham called all the commissioners and superintendents of police to ask them to submit the complete list of rowdies and history sheeters in the state, Arun told the media that he will talk to the criminals in a “language they understand”.
As part of the drive against rowdy elements, the Greater Chennai Police have arrested as many as 78 suspects and history sheeters.
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Steps being taken
Late Saturday evening, a group of policemen entered the narrow lanes of Chennai to reach the house of a known criminal.
“He must stay disciplined and avoid any involvement in criminal activities. If he encounters any trouble, he should inform us immediately, and we will handle it. If he engages in any wrongdoing, we will break his hands and legs,” a senior officer of the rank of assistant commissioner was heard warning the family of the history sheeter in a video released by the police department.
The senior official also warned that there might be an “encounter” if he is found involved in any murder case. “After attending to his pending cases in the court, he should not go to work and not be involved in any anti-social activities,” the official said to the wife.
A senior official of the rank of inspector general of police said this was among the new measures being taken to curb the activities of the rowdy elements in the state.
According to the official, the list of rowdies was recently re-categorised after a long time. In this process, rowdies previously involved in minor activities but who are now engaged in more serious crimes were upgraded to the ‘A+’ category. Meanwhile, those who have become inactive, or died of old age or other reasons were removed from the list.
“After re-categorisation, it was found that of the 26,462 rowdies in the state, there are about 421 A+ category rowdies and 836 A category rowdies. This data helps the police focus on the important and notorious rowdy elements in the state,” the official said to ThePrint.
The department has also nominated police officers at the station level in the new Drive Against Rowdy Element (DARE) project. “These DARE officers are tasked with monitoring the activities of the assigned rowdy elements,” the official added.
ADGP Devasirvatham has also been ordered to nominate a DSP rank officer to head the rowdy monitoring team in each L&O zone and city commissionerate.
“A detailed SOP was prepared for the working of these zonal teams. The teams are tasked with concentrating on core policing strategies, like investigation into financial crimes (regarding property ownership, sources of income), monitoring gangs and rival gangs, monitoring court progress and court attendance of the rowdies, etc,” the official said.
Doubts over encounter of accused in Armstrong murder
In the early hours of 14 July, K. Thiruvengadam (33), one of the accused in the Armstrong murder case was killed in a police encounter. The Greater Chennai Police in a statement released Sunday evening claimed that Thiruvengadam tried to escape by firing at the police, which led to the encounter. This is the first encounter after A. Arun took charge as the Commissioner of Greater Chennai Police.
However, Opposition leaders like AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, BJP President K. Annamalai, and Naam Tamilar Katchi coordinator S. Seeman have raised doubts over the police encounter.
“The encounter raises the suspicion that DMK is trying to cover up the involvement of the DMK members in murder of Armstrong,” alleged Annamalai while speaking to the media. He added that he has also demanded a CBI inquiry in the case.
However, in rebuttal to the allegations of not arresting the real accused in connection with the murder of Armstrong, police released CCTV footage of Armstrong’s murder, making known the involvement of each and every accused arrested in connection with the case.
“The case is very clear and we have marked the identity of each and every person involved in the murder with the help of the CCTV footage. If the relatives or the family members have suspicion of somebody else or have some other clue in contradictory to what we have investigated, we are always ready to consider it. But, nobody gave any clue or raised suspicion on anybody,” said K.S. Narenthiran Nayar, Additional Commissioner of Police (L&O) (North Chennai), to ThePrint.
Another senior official in the Greater Chennai Police told ThePrint that they released the CCTV footage of the murder to instill among people a confidence in the state police.
“When people repeatedly say that those arrested are not the real accused, people tend to believe it. We understand the feelings of the grieving family, but we cannot lose the image of the police department, and lose the public’s confidence. We hope at least now the people are clear about it,” the senior official told ThePrint.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)