“We did not arrest anyone for sketching kolams , the police interfered only when they put the kolams with anti-CAA slogans, in front of an elderly person’s house despite him objecting to it,” City police commissioner A.K.Viswanathan claimed on Wednesday.
He was addressing a press meet to detail the department’s performance in 2019. “They asked for permission and it was denied. They drew eight kolams already in public places and in front of people’s houses. However, they wrote No–CAA slogan near a kolam , the resident had already drawn. The houseowner objected to this,” said the Commissioner.
He claimed that they created a scene in front of the house and when the police intervened, they raised slogans. “It was only after this we detained them,” he added. He also said that the police will investigate about anti-CAA protester Gayathri Khandhadai’s Pakistan connection. “On her social media account, it has been mentioned that she is a researcher with Pakistan-based Bytes for All organisation. We have to investigate further,” he added.
The Commissioner said that crime rate had reduced drastically after CCTVs were installed. “A total of 615 chain snatching incidents were reported in 2017, in May 2018 we started installing cameras. That year the number dropped to 443 and in 2019 it was 307,” he said.
He added that murder for gain cases had reduced by 50% in 2019 while road accident cases had dropped by 935 cases compared to 2018. He mentioned that a special wing for women and children safety was formed and there was not even a single case of dowry death in 2019. “We registered 25 Pocso cases,” he said.
Meanwhile 1,252 persons were killed in road accidents in 2019 compared to 1,297 in 2018. A total of 30,23,016 cases were registered in 2019 compared to 2,44,7329 cases in 2018.
