Chennai: Gun running, hired mercenaries, shooters from other states, violent attacks on streets and brutal murders…. Chennai seems to be gaining the dubious distinction of crime capital with a violent crime being reported almost every day, be it for revenge, gain or passion. The police are seen to be acting swiftly in making arrests in most of the cases, but there seems to be no mechanism to stop such violent crimes taking place in the metro.
"From the recent murders and violent attacks reported in the city, it looks like that there is no fear for the law and law enforcers. Criminals think they can get away with it, which is why there seems to be no deterrent factor, which might force the possible criminal to think before they act," noted a retired IPS officer.
Be it the brutal murder of a software professional at Nungambakkam railway station - the event took place Friday morning - or the murder of a vice president of a power financing firm by hired gang in Vadapalani in January this year, as with all other murders in public places that took place in between, the killers showed no fear of the law.
While police are busy booking criminals under Goondas act, very little is done to monitor the emerging of new and younger gangs who are technology wise and well connected. These new gangs have also established links in lower courts, which are used at the time of crisis to come out on bail after being arrested, another officer noted.
It was in March that the police busted a gun running racket from Nagapatinam, when an attempt was being made to sell a pistol for Rs.2 lakh in Chennai. At a time when the electioneering was at a high, a man from Kanpur reached Chennai and shot down a travel agent named Babu Singh during busy evening hours at Parry's Corner on May 3. Police said it was a job by a killer hired by his enemy in his village in Rajasthan.
A few days later oncologist Rohini Premakumari was killed in her sprawling bungalow in Egmore. She was found dead with her limbs tied in her garden.
In the same Egmore neighbourhood, the murder of a home-alone elderly woman Sarada took place in an apartment last March. The case is still under investigation. The month of June saw daylight murders in public places hit a peak. One after another, three lawyers besides a RTI activist were killed.
Though the police are attributing family and personal issues as reasons for the four gruesome killings that took place in public places, the incidents showed that sickle-wi elding men are having a free run in the metro.
