The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : The wheeling-dealing gang picks up speed Law and Order

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Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

The wheeling-dealing gang picks up speed Law and Order

Quoting statistics Rajesh B. Nair says the overall detection rate when it comes to motor vehicle theft is comparatively low.

A gang involved in stealing four-wheelers has once again surfaced in Puducherry after brief lull. In the last three weeks at least four vehicles have been stolen from parts of town, one during daytime.

Two cases each were reported under the Reddiarpalayam and Orleanpet police station limits in the last few days. While a Maruthi 800, a Tata Indica and a Bolero were stolen from residential areas during night, one Tata Indica car was stolen from a parking area near the New Bus Stand during daytime.

The owner of the car that was stolen from the New Bus Stand area had parked it and had gone to Cuddalore. When he returned in the evening, the car was not found. All the vehicles stolen from residential areas were parked outside their houses. . The Bolero stolen from Thiruvalluvar Salai near Nellithope belonged to a retired Superintendent of Police. He had parked the vehicle outside his residence.

Cases have been registered in the police stations concerned. Besides investigation by teams formed by Police Stations, personnel from the Special Task Force, under the director control of Senior Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) Manish Kumar Agrawal was also probing the incidents.

The Senior Superintendent of Police told The Hindu that they were searching for a person, who is an outsider, involved in stealing four-wheelers from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. He was spotted by several persons in the region before the crime took place.

Mr. Agrawal said though the vehicle thefts, particularly four-wheelers, have come down in the last year, the recent incidents were a case of concern. There were several measures that owners can take up to prevent four-wheeler thefts including installation of burglar alarms and gear locks, he said.

The gear lock, which is comparatively cheap and steady, can prevent vehicle from being stolen, if not making the “job” difficult for the culprits, he said.

“In most of the metros, police have suggested to residents to go in for burglar alarms and gear locks as a preventive mechanism,” he said.

“The police can only intensify patrolling during night hours. But at the same time we cannot keep vigil in the entire residential areas with the force available,” an investigating officer said.

The officer said owners of the vehicle should be more cautious especially when majority of the vehicles in residential areas were parked outside.

In the North region, which was the main target of such culprits, a total of ten cases were reported, of which five were detected in the last one year, Mr. Agrawal said.

Statistics available with the Police Department revealed that compared to 2007, motor vehicle thefts, majority of them two-wheelers had shown a marginal decline.

While there were 498 motor vehicle thefts reported in 2007, there were only 370 cases as on December 15, 2008. Of the cases reported in the current year, around 150 cases were detected.

Motor vehicle thefts have been on the rise in the region since 2005.

The number of cases increased from 235 in 2005 to 320 in 2006. However, the overall detection rate when it comes to motor vehicle theft was comparatively low.

The average detection rate during the last four years was around 45 per cent.

In the other regions of the Union Territory, there were not many vehicle thefts reported inthe last three years.

In Karaikal region, there were around 50 motor vehicle theft cases registered, Mahe as many as five and Yanam four cases so far.

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