The Hindu : Businessman robbed of Rs. 10 lakhs at T.Nagar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Businessman robbed of Rs. 10 lakhs at T.Nagar

By P. Oppili

CHENNAI FEB. 25. In a shocking heist in the heart of T.Nagar, a businessman was robbed of Rs. 10 lakhs cash at knifepoint by a four-member gang on Monday night.

Kamrudeen of Tiruchi had come to the city for a real estate transaction, when he was waylaid. He faced the additional problem of filing a complaint as the local police cited jurisdiction and asked him to approach the railway police.

Kamrudeen, who was staying in a mansion in the city, approached a middleman to complete the transaction. As it was not complete, he decided to return home with the cash and came to the Mambalam railway station to board the Rockfort Express around 10-30 p.m.

Four persons, who claimed that they were police personnel, accosted him and took him out of the station on the ground that they wanted to interrogate him. After taking him to Natesan Road, T.Nagar, the gangsters suddenly wielded a knife and removed the box containing the cash and escaped in a waiting car.

The victim's troubles, however, snowballed as he went to the Mambalam station, hoping to lodge a complaint. The police took an "oral" complaint and asked him to come to the station the next morning. But, the victim did not return to the station, the police claimed.

It is not clear why no written complaint was accepted at Mambalam, on the lines of the instructions given by senior officers, that there should be no refusal to register complaints on the grounds of jurisdiction.

Railway police officials, when contacted, said a case had been registered by the Mambalam police, who were investigating.

But the issue was far from resolved, as a senior city police officer said though he had been told about the incident, the complaint could be a false one. It would be very difficult for a getaway car to enter the busy market area during night hours.

`The Mambalam police have not received any complaint and there is no such case pending with us', the officer said.

The whereabouts of the complainant were not known on Tuesday night.

The robbery revived memories of a similar violent strike in March 2001, when an armed gang removed Rs .9.43 lakhs from the Passengers Reservation Counter (PRC), Mambalam, and the police announced a reward of Rs. 25,000 for providing any clue about those involved in the incident.

Interestingly, soon after the incident occurred at the Mambalam PRC, the police, instead of alerting the nearby stations or the patrol vehicle, cited the question of jurisdiction of investigation.

Even in the yesterday's case, the same situation prevailed and the passenger was forced to run from pillar to post.

When the victim first approached the Mambalam police station, they outright refused to entertain him stating that the incident did not take place within their jurisdiction.

Despite periodical warning by the senior police officers that severe action would be initiated against the personnel, who refuse to entertain complaints from the public irrespective of the jurisdiction, there is no review of complaints in the matter, conceded a senior officer. "Suspension of some station personnel would help shake-up the system, so that the taxpaying public are not bounced from one place to another merely to file a complaint," said a consumer advocate.

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