Chennai: The city police transferred crime inspector R. Kannan of Egmore police station on Thursday amidst the ongoing enquiry by the joint commissioner of police into the alleged stealing of parked but abandoned vehicles from the Egmore railway station premises by the policemen.“Inspector Kannan was transferred and asked to report at the city control room on Thursday over mike. The fate of one special sub-inspector and a head constable who has allegedly taken 15 abandoned bikes from the railway station premises in a truck and sold them at the Pudupet market is not yet known,” sources said.
Senior police officers here said unclaimed and abandoned vehicles are good sources of income for dirty cops as they sell such vehicles, mainly two-wheelers, to scrap dealers or at the infamous stolen vehicle market in Pudupet.“It happens across the city. Policemen from the local stations wait for a few months before they decide to do the ‘clearance sale’. They make sure that these vehicles are not claimed by anybody for a period of time and then sell them. Usually, it is done during Ayudha pooja, as part of the ‘cleaning mission’ in the police station and other prominent parking areas used by people.
It could be railway stations or a bus terminus,” a senior police official noted.Most often, these vehicles are stolen ones and involved in crime. The criminals usually prefer to commit crimes using stolen vehicles. After committing crimes like chain-snatching or body offences, they head for the bus terminus or railway station. They then park the vehicle there and walk off, the officer noted.
The original owners who had registered complaints with police about their stolen vehicle will be more than happy if they manage to get a FIR from the local station. Once the FIR is provided, the owners follow it up with the insurance companies and get the insured sum.
Once the insurance amount is collected the genuine owner stops bothering about his stolen vehicle. That is when the stolen vehicles become abandoned vehicles.
These abandoned vehicles finally become a good source of income for dirty cops, like the those in the Egmore police station, who took away as many as 15 such bikes from Egmore railway station premises to sell it to Pudupet traders a fortnight ago.
