Close surveillance and shadow watch by the police brought down the number of murder cases in Villupuram district this year.
Superintendent of Police S. Jeyakumar said 52 murder cases were reported till December 20 this year as against 78 the previous year.
This was possible because of strict surveillance against the anti-social gangs which committed murders in a bid to settle scores.
“The district police have been implementing a zero tolerance approach towards notorious rowdies and those coming out of jail,” he said.
Twenty-six anti-social elements have been detained under the Goondas Act this year.
“We have stepped up surveillance in certain pockets such as Kuyilapalayam and Villupuram and a list of rowdies was drawn for tight surveillance.
A number of gangs and mercenaries were busted and there has been no major incident in the last one-and-a-half years,” Mr. Jeyakumar said. The district police recovered stolen property worth ₹2.30 crore out of ₹3.05 crore worth of property stolen in 2018.
As many as 533 major crimes were reported in 2018, of which the accused were nabbed in 413 cases.
Road accidents
In 2017, 811 persons were killed in 3,577 road accidents.
In 2018, 527 persons died in 3,143 accidents. Strict enforcement of traffic rules helped bring down the number of accidents, he said.
On the traffic front, a penalty of ₹21.91 lakh was collected and the driving licence of 22,540 people were suspended for drunken driving and other traffic-related offences.
With regard to prohibition-related offences, 13,586 cases were registered and 13,373 accused, including 1,582 women, were arrested. As many as 678 vehicles were impounded for smuggling IMFL and rectified spirit this year.