CM Edappadi K Palaniswami: CCTV images not clear, culprits will be caught soon

Chennai: Dismissing suggestions that law and order situation in Chennai was deteriorating, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday said police was making every effort to nab culprits who had hurled petrol bombs on Teynampet police station here with 12 people already being interro-gated.

Responding to questions by Opposition leader M.K. Stalin who had raised the issue in the Assembly, Mr Palaniswami said since dust had settled on CCTV cameras due to intermittent rains, images captured on them were not clear leading to delay in nabbing the culprits.

Mr Stalin wanted to know why culprits had not been nabbed despite 24 hours having passed after bike-borne miscreants hurled Molotov cocktails, popularly known as petrol bombs, at Teynampet police station on early Thursday.

He also wanted the Chief Minister to explain why law and order situation was deteriorating in the state, particularly in this metropolis.

“Two bike-borne men had hurled a lit kerosene-filled bottle at the station in the early hours, resulting in a fire. A policeman on duty immediately doused fire and no one was injured in the incident. There was no damage too,” Mr Palaniswami said.

After scouring through CCTV footage, the Chief Minister said 12 people were interrogated regarding the incident with detailed investigation on. One person among the 12 is being examined closely since his appearance matches with that of a miscreant spotted in the video, he said.Three special teams have been formed to trace the suspects.

A total of 10 cameras are installed there, but you all know that the city has been receiving rainfall for the past few days and as a result of it, dust had settled on these CCTV cameras. Therefore, the images captured by the cameras are not clear. Still, every step is being taken to nab all the culprits involved in the incident," the Chief Minister said.