Even as the city police could heave a sigh of relief after the huge recovery of 652 gm of stolen goods such as gold ornaments, silver articles and other properties — all valued at over Rs. one crore — and the arrest of 64 persons, involvement of many young and educated persons in crimes such as chain snatching, house break-ins and theft of debit cards has come as a rude shock to them.
They were surprised to come across many first-time offenders among those arrested in the chain snatching cases — one of them was a MBA degree holder from a renowned institution in the city who was working as a marketing manager in an automobile firm.
Speaking to The Hindu , Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) V. Jeyashri said that the MBA graduate had indulged in chain snatching cases in the S.S. Colony area. “He sprinkled chilli powder on the face of the victims and escaped with the ornament.”
Recalling an incident of an accused escaping from police custody in the city and the suspension of an Inspector of Police recently, Ms. Jeyashri said that the escaped accused was a B.E. graduate who used to threaten young boys and girls that he would divulge to their parents their secret meetings and take away money and gold ornaments from them. His victims were teenaged girls and boys who used to meet in the Tallakulam police station limits.
The police were initially clueless on the murder of Kayalvizhi, resident of a flat in S.S. Colony, a fortnight back. They later realised that the accused were known to the victim. Discreet probe revealed that one of the accused (two remanded to judicial custody) was an ITI certificate holder and another a graduate. “The special teams interrogated over 200 persons, including a policeman,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Inbamani said.
Favourite brand
It also came to light that many youth in the age group of 22 to 25 years were involved in stealing two-wheelers parked in public places. A leading motorcycle brand seemed to be their favourite choice. In the recent cache, out of the 40 vehicles recovered, 32 were of a single brand. The special team recovered the vehicles from Sivaganga, Karaikudi and Tirunelveli, Ms. Jeyashri said.
