Incidents which took place in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli during the last week have cast a shadow on the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu, according to intelligence officials.
Seizure of almost a dozen illegal pistols and counterfeit currency notes from Chennai and Tiruchirappalli over the last week has baffled the police. What is worrying the police force in Tamil Nadu is the fact that one of the arrested persons engaged in the gun running is a head constable belonging to the State Police.
On Tuesday, commuters travelling in a suburban train in the city had to run helter-skelter to escape from the fury of a group of students who were fighting with each other with deadly weapons like swords and sickles.
Even as the commandoes of the Tamil Police were marching in style in the Republic Day parade at Chennai, watched by Governor Banwarilal Purohit, their colleagues in the Special Investigation Team were chasing gun runners near Chennai Central Railway Station.
The Guwahati-Thiruva-nanthapuram Express which was nearing the metropolis saw two youth jumping out from the running train as it slowed down for getting the green signal for its entry into the Chennai Central station. A team of SIT officials which was following the gun runners too jumped out from the train and after a cinema style chase, caught hold of the duo.
The yield from the duo, Pradeep (27) and Kamal (25) from Chennai suburbs, took the police by surprise. “They had six pistols, 20 cartridges and counterfeit currencies of face value of Rs 4 lakh in their bags. Most of the counterfeit currencies were the newly introduced notes of Rs 2,000 denomination”, said S Rajendran, deputy commissioner of police, Kilpauk, Chennai.
On interrogating Pradeep and Kamal, it was found that they have been ehgaged by one Mohammed Rafiq, undergoing imprisonment in Puzhal Central Jail in connection with another case. Rafiq has been operating from the prison with a mobile phone,” said a member of the SIT.
Parameswaran, a police head constable and two of his accomplices were arrested from Tiruchirappalli last week. This was followed by the arrest of two women related to the trio and seizure of counterfeit currency of face value Rs 64,000 from them. “All these people are working in tandem and their activities have been going on for the last five years,” said a police officer.
While Pradeep and Kamal told the police that they sourced the counterfeit currency and pistols from Malda in West Bengal, the investigators are sure that the “consignment” was from Bangladesh. According to sources in Tamil Nadu Police, at least eight unlicensed and smuggled guns have been sold in the State during the last one year alone.
The seizure of smuggled guns, counterfeit currencies and arrest of a policeman points to the fact that even police officers are involved in the racket, according to S Ramadoss, founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi. “The sale of unlicensed pistols has grown markedly in Tamil Nadu. One cannot rule out the involvement of police officers in the racket. Two persons were arrested in Chennai and another group which included a policeman was arrested at Tiruchirappalli. This means that illegal sale of pistols are thriving in the State. This has to be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation,” Ramadoss said in a statement.The PMK leader said there has been a systematic raise in the sale of unlicensed pistols in Tamil Nadu which shows that the law and order in the State is in peril.