Cops & Kidnappers
“When the police are so busy protecting politicians, where do they have the time to protect schoolchildren?” asks an observer of the Tamil Nadu (or for that matter, Indian) way of life where children get kidnapped, raped and killed while politicians strut around with cops or Black Cats tailing them, cocooned in their security. This is what made all those total strangers furious who flocked to the Jain house in Coimbatore to bond with the parents of 10-year-old Muskan (who was raped before being killed) and her seven-year-old brother Hrithik (who was killed). The fact that police arrested the children’s killers is small comfort when you think that the tragedy need never have happened if policing was of a higher order and the CM of TN showed the same concern he displayed when one of his aides’ grandchildren was abducted some months ago. Karunanidhi had cancelled all his appointments and rushed to the house of his aide and stayed there till the boy was found, so willing was he to lean on the police.
Small comfort too is the fact that the Chennai police has recently arrested two MBA graduates (who apparently have also worked abroad) for masterminding the kidnap of 13-year-old Keerthi Vasan, the son of a granite businessman. What is galling in the episode is that T Rajendran, Commissioner of Police, says only a “nominal sum” was paid as ransom. The parents are blameless because after what happened to the Jain children they did not want their child coming home in a body bag so they forked out Rs 1 crore as a ransom (the kidnappers had earlier demanded Rs 3 crores). Apparently one crore is “a nominal amount” for the top cop. After the Adarsh Society scam in Mumbai, maybe for politicians and bureaucrats, it is!
Today’s Kidnappers
They are not the kind who would make the kids scream in fear and run away. On the contrary, they are know people (as in the case of the Coimbatore children) or those dregs of society who dress and talk in a manner that does not raise suspicion (as in the case of Keerthi’s kidnappers) and children put their trust in them. “A deeper analysis of the two recent kidnap cases indicates a pattern - the abductors are known to the child and their family. Most of them are first-time offenders and use a minimum number of accomplices,” additional commissioner of police, law and order, Shakeel Akther says. Several weeks ago a woman scorned by a two-timing man seemed to have taken inspiration from the gritty film of years ago, Fatal Attraction. Here she took it to a grisly level (at that time, boiling the family pet seemed the worst nightmare for the family) by brutally killing her lover’s three-year-old boy and then stuffing his body into a large suitcase.
So with inept cops, parents should observe more precautions. “Always prefer sending the children in vehicles organised by the school management - it ensures better safety than private vans or cars,” says Akhter. It is even better to car pool because it promises total safety (the driver is a parent) and has the added benefit of reducing traffic congestion. It would also help if you could send your child to a nearby school. But in cities, good schools that parents prefer are several kilometres away.
One more layer of security is when the school adds its own input. Director of school education P. Perumalsamy says schools have been ordered to provide identity cards to parents and guardians who come to pick up children. “The school education department has taken cognisance of the recent kidnaps and is taking these steps,” he says.
“We are also urging the state transport corporations to operate chartered trip buses so that parents can be sure about the safety of their kids,” N. Vijayan, general secretary, Federation of Association of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu said.
God Help Us
So, all of you who thought Chennai is a safe city because it has had no terrorist strike like Delhi/Mumbai/ Bangalore/ Pune/ Ahmedabad/Jaipur, shake yourselves out of this complacency. Here’s another reminder of how dangers could be lurking around. A mock drill called “Operation Hamla” recently revealed various loopholes that brings home the chilling reminder: Citizens have to be alert all the time, whereas terrorists need to be lucky only once to pull off a strike.
One of the biggest security holes is that the 1,097 km-long TN coastline is an open gateway compounded by the fact that there is no co-ordination between security agencies. Remember Mumbai was attacked by terrorists who came by sea two years ago? Not that the fact that the Tamil Nadu coast is leaky comes as a surprise. Many of the Sri Lankans fleeing the emerald isle when trouble began in the early 1980s came to TN by boat (today there are over 75,000 of them in 117 camps in 25 districts of the state). So did the LTTE and other members of Tamil groups. But after the end of hostilities last May when LTTE chief V Prabhakaran was dead, and after the November 2008 terror attack in Mumbai, the presumption is that security agencies have our backs.
But get this, the Red Force (who were supposed to represent the baddies) outwitted the Blue Force (the good guys who are supposed to protect you) and even infiltrated a police building. This, despite a warning by a senior police officer, during the briefing to the Red and Blue teams before the terrorist games began, that if the bad guys manage to get into the police building, then God help us! Well, start praying.
When Black Cats Cross the Road
But the good news is the NSG commandos can be relied on. Thanks to them, Mumbai was saved. And thanks to them, we can be certain that they will be on the ball. This was proved recently when there was mock takeover of a leading software company at Semmanchery and senior software engineers were taken as hostages. Needless to mention, the role of terrorists and hostages were performed by the commandos themselves. The commandos who were playing the role of the saviours, made quick work of the “enemy” in three hours and released the hostages. “Fire and rescue service personnel also assisted the NSG and SAG personnel with the drill,” a senior police officer said.
That was not all. The commandos were also tested for their rapid response during an anti-hijack drill that involved over 160 of them. The NSG had rented an aircraft from Air India to carry out the operation. “The drill was aimed at giving commandos real experience about hijacking that classroom learning cannot give them.” Chennai was made one of the NSG hubs after the Mumbai attack and are based at a training facility behind the Vandalur zoo. The place was not completely ready but the commandos were no softies demanding facilities be in place. “We needed the place for our boys to stay and to train. We don’t expect a perfect place to stay,” said a senior NSG official, very matter of factly.
Amma’s Army
Speaking of commandos, does the AIADMK have no faith in the commandos guarding amma? The CM was on the backfoot after she got a succession of threat letters recently, and said 56 cops took turns to guard her 24x7. And here we are not including her black cats. The threat letters led to 1000 “commandos” being raised. We saw some of them guarding amma’s convoy during her slow passage from the airport to the venue of her meeting in Madurai recently. As her convoy crawled through the sea of people, the “commandos” guarded the third layer cocooning her outside her black cats and the cops. These new black cats, had Jayalalitha’s smiling visage on their black t-shirts, wielded silambams (lathis), and were trained to punch a kung fu blow and deliver a karate kick. Thankfully, they did not have to use their “deadly” skills.
Big Brother is Watching You
Maybe it’s because Chennai has seen no terrorist strike that malls are overflowing – there are four now and more in the offing (although there is news that DLF have ditched plans for a mall and instead is building luxury flats in the same area as is another builder) – and T’Nagar comes even more alive when Deepavali nears. According to police sources, T’Nagar has over 1,100 of 4,200 CCTV cameras installed at different points in the city. Many of these have been installed privately. Shopowners who make money by the truckloads, as all of Chennai goes into a shopping frenzy, chip in and install the cameras because they know the way to attract business is to project that they can keep people safe. This Sunday, a week before Deepavali, five lakh shoppers came between 11am to 5pm and by 6.30 pm, eight lakh people were jostling each other at T’nagar. A special police help room was set up in the area and there were 14 cameras which could even zoom in and show the contents of a shopper bag! At Puraswalkam, there was a rush too with shoppers crowding the 1300 shops.
Police sources said T Nagar had over 1,100 CCTV cameras of the 4,200 in the city, a major portion of them installed by private parties. Some of the tallest buildings in T Nagar where high resolution CCTV cameras can be fixed on top for a panoramic view have been identified, the police said. Of course businessmen still need some prodding from the cops to loosen their purse strings. “We are encouraging all the traders in T Nagar and other shopping hubs (like Pondy Bazaar) to put up closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras inside and outside their shops,” additional commissioner of police (law and order) Mohammad Shakeel Akhter says.
Nothing like proof to convince some recalcitrant traders who, perhaps fairly, feel that it should be the government's job to keep people safe even if they are only too willing to shell out the money to put CC TVs inside their shops so they can keep an eye out for shop-lifters and kleptomaniacs. “Recently, we detected at least 15 cases with the help of CCTV footage and arrested the accused,” says police commissioner T Rajendran said. So it’s going to be more CCTV cameras in jewellery shops, banks, ATM kiosks, marriage halls, commercial complexes, hospitals and big residential complexes.” Let’s hope they will be more useful than the ones at Jama Masjid in Delhi where on the eve of the Commonwealth Games, terrorists shot two tourists, even packed an explosive in a car and walked away nonchalantly.
The Hidden Benefits of CCTV
The CCTV, apart from keeping an eagle eye on terrorists and shoplifters apparently has other uses too as was discovered when it nailed a murderer within 24 hours. An auto driver Elango (25), who was sleeping at relative Babu’s house at Aminjikarai, was found dead with his head crushed by a stone recently. When the police team, investigating the murder, checked the CCTV installed on EVR Salai, it found footage of the murder sequence. And that’s how Kadhiravan (30) of Aminjikarai, a close friend of Elango, was found to be the assailant. The two had been drinking and fell out over money. Kadhiravan was in a rage when Ellango took away Rs 400 from him and spent it on booze. So he killed him. Brutally.
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