With the arrest of four Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionaries, including its urban district secretary G. Thalapathi and ‘Pottu' Suresh alias N. Suresh Babu, a close confidant of Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers M.K. Alagiri, and two others here on Tuesday, the police expect more land grabbing petitions to pour in from many parts of southern districts in the coming weeks.
During her election campaign, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary, Jayalalithaa, assured a large gathering in Madurai that if her party was voted to power, lands acquired by force by the DMK men in Madurai and southern districts of Tamil Nadu would be retrieved. Similarly, she vowed to free the State from the clutches of anti-social elements and promised to deliver a clean and transparent administration.
Besides posting competent administrators in the revenue and police departments to instil confidence among people, after the AIADMK swept the Assembly elections, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa kept her word, a party man said. She announced the formation of land grabbing cells across the State and promised that land owners would be protected from land grabbers. Since the day the cells were established, petitions started pouring in.
Many petitioners who had in the past failed to get ‘justice' for various reasons remained silent. The plight of land owners is coming to light after they have started visiting the police stations across the south zone. Every one had his own woes to narrate and the mental agony undergone by them was painful, police officers said.
But, what is bothering the police officers is that they alone cannot deliver justice or restore law and order overnight. Only with the coordinated efforts of other government agencies such as the judiciary, the prisons, the revenue administration, among others, they can get things done.
Get the cue
The last week arrest of ‘Attack' Pandi alias V.P. Pandian, a DMK functionary, in connection with a land grab charge came as good tidings for the victims, having been under constant threat by anti-social elements for so long. Many people queued up before the offices of the Police Commissioner and Superintendent of Police to lodge complaints against Pandi.
On Monday night, a raid on the premises of Pandi revealed that there was a cache of weapons stored in the house.
Under such circumstances, when the police moved the magistrate court here seeking custody of Pandi for further interrogation, the court turned down the petition. The officers said that the Supreme Court had in several cases ordered that the police had powers to take an accused in custody for discreet examination.
Similarly, the other day, when the police escorted the accused for medical examination prior to the detention in the prison, some doctors at the Government Rajaji Hospital here were unwilling to give cooperation. Had any untoward incident happened to the accused, the police would have been held responsible. Hence, taking a risk, the team took the accused to the prison and waited for long hours for the doctors to examine the accused.
Despite limitations such as shortage of manpower, the police officers are determined to retrieve the lost properties to the rightful owners.
