The Tirunelveli district police, with the objective of crushing crimes and the criminals, have started action against ganja peddlers, usurers and other habitual offenders by invoking the provisions of Goondas Act.
So far, 47 persons have been detained under the Goondas Act this year and of them, 11 have been put behind the bars in the past one month alone.
The sudden spurt in the detention of criminals under the Goondas Act in the district has discouraged the habitual offenders to leave the district at the earliest towards a relatively safe haven. An antisocial element from Thatchanallur area in Tirunelveli city, who is operating all over Tamil Nadu under the cover of his caste, has apparently moved out of Tirunelveli district.
To check the execution of organised crimes, Mr. Manivannan has strengthened the intelligence network by involving locals in every police station limits apart from getting information from the special branch constables also.
“The special branch constables have to be on tenterhooks round-the-clock as the SP’s intelligence network starts from the grassroots level. So our personnel have to be alert all the time in crime prevention,” a police officer says.
While ganja peddlers are being arrested and their detention under Goondas Act has started, the moneylenders collecting exorbitant interest and the self-styled caste leaders are being monitored closely as a few of them are using the youth of their caste for nefarious activities.
When a team from Anna University scientifically surveyed Hanumanadhi to revive the watercourse from Panagudi to Idinthakarai as the farmers of this region appealed to Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish, it was found that most of this river has been encroached upon by a few individuals having political and caste backing. Even though they tried to scuttle the survey of the river, the Anna University officials, with the backing of revenue officials, completed the survey.
The police would act as per the laws on the encroachers, said the SP.