Chennai: Tamil Nadu CM C. Joseph Vijay Tuesday convened a high-level review meeting with ministers, the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal to assess the law and order situation.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a detailed report from Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar on the situation after the Opposition criticised the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government over 15 murders reported in the state around Diwali.
The killings included cases linked to revenge, past enmities and gang-related violence involving young men. Some also stemmed from sudden altercations over firecrackers or drunken brawls. The police, however, denied a festival-specific rise in crime, saying the figures cited by the Opposition included cases reported before Diwali as well.
The Opposition has alleged that the number was significantly higher than the six murders reported during Diwali last year and 11 in 2024.
The killings
In Theni, Special Sub-Inspector Senthil Kumar was beaten to death after intervening against youths bursting crackers on a public road while filming reels.
In Tiruchy, two 17-year-old daily wage labourers were hacked to death near a canal in what the police are probing as a possible revenge attack. In another incident, a 20-year-old IT employee who had returned home for the festival was stabbed following a dispute over cracker splinters.
Other cases involved history-sheeters settling scores, alcohol-fuelled clashes and targeted attacks in Chennai, Cuddalore and Sivagangai.
Following the Chief Minister’s review meeting, the Tamil Nadu Police launched a statewide special drive on 9 and 10 November, involving more than 15,000 criminal suspects and habitual offenders. In Chennai alone, the police detained 222, including 185 history-sheeters, on 9 November. Of these, 36, including 16 history-sheeters, were arrested and remanded. In Avadi, officers scrutinised 227, remanded 25 and issued warnings to 202 others.
Across the state, the police arrested and remanded 467 people within 24 hours, made 303 individuals execute good-conduct bonds and issued warnings to 6,540 others.
Opposition targets TVK government
Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin took to X to declare that “the sound of machetes was louder than crackers” on Diwali. Taking a swipe at Chief Minister Vijay, he pointed to what he described as the irony of prisoners escaping during the CM’s prison inspections while policemen were being murdered during his police station visits.
“There is no safety for the public or even for the police personnel entrusted with protecting them,” he said, calling Vijay a “dummy Chief Minister” and questioning how long the government would evade accountability through review meetings and official appointments.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami also questioned the government’s handling of the situation, referring to the killing of Special Sub-Inspector Senthil Kumar.
“When there is no safety for police personnel, how can the common man remain safe?” he asked. EPS charged that the TVK government had pushed law and order to a point where “rowdies and criminals are roaming the streets fearlessly”.
BJP state president Nainar Nagendran also condemned the killings, saying law and order had completely collapsed under the TVK regime and that even police personnel entrusted with protecting the public were no longer safe.
Congress MP Karti P. Chidambaram, too, expressed concern over the regularity of planned murders stemming from group rivalries.
Responding to the criticism, School Education Minister A. Rajmohan said elevated murder numbers during Deepavali were not unprecedented, citing six murders in 2025 and 11 in 2024. “We have given the police officials all the freedom to arrest the criminals involved in such cases. They are even shooting to catch them to ensure that law and order is not compromised,” Rajmohan told the media Monday.
(Edited by Anupama Yadav)
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