Chennai, Sep 28 (IANS): After the Director General of Police S. Saylendra Babu ordered the state police to crack down on rowdy elements who are likely to get involved in revenge killings and hate crime, the police have brought to book several history-sheeters and those waiting in the wings to be inducted as full-time killers.
The DGP had on Saturday met the police officers of South Tamil Nadu and directed them to spare no one who was preparing for killings and revenge killings.
The DGP had met his subordinate officers following widespread criticism against the state police in the four back to back beheadings in the Tirunelveli and Dindigul districts of the state.
The cases of beheadings were mainly the result of earlier killings and in most of these murders, caste was a major factor and the fight is now between the Dalit community on the one side and the Thevar community on the other side.
A total of 2,500 people were rounded up and around 800 weapons including machete's, swords, daggers, iron rods, and steel pipes were confiscated from the procession of several gangs of these districts. Police also could recover three firearms from these gangs and the department has already carried out a detailed probe on the availability of firearms.
In Chennai on Monday, police arrested S. Murugesan, 64, and his two sons, M. Murugan, 30 and M. Karthik, 23, and their friend, E. Praveen Kumar (24). The police intelligence had given a tip-off that Murugesan was trying for revenge on the killing of his elder son M. Saravanan, who was hacked to death in front of a Tasmac liquor shop on August 1, 2021.
The accused in Saravanan's murder case Manikandan, Shyam, Ajith, and Vijay are in Chennai central jail and were about to be released on bail when police intelligence gave tip-off on the plan of Murugesan and his family.
"R. Padmanabhan of Socio-Economic Development Foundation (SEDF), a Think Tank based out of Madurai while speaking to IANS said, "Unless there is a police crackdown on the revenge killers, this will continue. The initiative taken by the DGP is good. For ensuring law and order in the state, police have to be tough and never allow the law to get out of hand."