Southern States - Kerala

Crime graph of Kochi shoots up

By Our Staff Reporter

Kochi May 18. The spurt in crime in the city during the past month brought to mind the `mystery killings' and goonda attacks that created headlines last year. Senior police officers have always claimed that Kochi would be cleansed of goondas, drug peddlers and anti-social elements, but the message somehow does not seem to have seeped down to the policeman on the street.

Kochi has for long been a haven for pranksters, mischief mongers and anti-social elements out to make a fast buck. Having a large floating population as compared to other cities in the State, criminals who manage to give the police the slip after a crime has often caught the police off guard.

The list of unsolved cases is many. The police have not been able to make any headway into the murder of an LIC agent who was found dead in a lodge at Valanjambalam over two years back. Another unsolved case is that of a LIC agent who was found burnt to death at Marine Drive. An IUML leader was found dead under suspicious circumstances near the KSRTC bus stand last year. The most high profile one was the murder of Commander Paulose who was found in a pool of blood at his house two-and-a-half years back.

In all these cases, the accused are suspected to have come from outside the city, even the district. Few investigating officers take pains to think in terms of going beyond the district boundaries on the lookout for criminals and this could be a reason why so many cases, including murders, remain unsolved. There is not enough coordination between the different wings of the police. For example, there is little exchange of information between the Crime Squad of the City Police Commissioner and the local police. The frequent arrests of Thammanam Shaji, a high-profile gangster in the city, have attracted attention. He was arrested at least three times during the past one-and-a-half years. The ability of such people to secure bail is a matter of public concern.

`Quotation teams' (hired goons) continue to have a free run in the city and their own parallel system of justice, thanks to people turning to them because of the delays they encounter in courts and other `legitimate' institutions of grievance redressal.

Apart from gang attacks, burglaries, vehicle thefts and pickpockets too are on the rise in the city. With the belief setting in that there is no use complaining to the police, most cases of pickpocketing and burglary go unreported. Though the police say that a special squad has been constituted to track down vehicle thieves, little headway has been made.

The North and South Railway overbridges have become synonymous with traffic jams during the day and armed robberies at night. Robbery is said to be a regular feature here but the police have not been able to check this trend. Posting a couple of policemen here in mufti would go a long way in helping to nab the culprits and alleviating the fear that has gripped the denizens of the city. The Rajaji Road, some areas of the Marine Drive stretch and the Sahodaran Aiyappan Road remain unlit, making it easier for anti-social elements.

Sale of single-digit lottery, which has been banned, goes on unabated at Pallimukku. People engaged in illegal forex transactions continue to have a field day in the Broadway Market and they tail regular shoppers with `dollar' calls, just below the nose of policemen on duty.

The police have been citing a variety of reasons, from lack of adequate manpower to the short supply of vehicles and inadequate infrastructure, as the causes for their inability to crackdown on criminals and their gangs.

Many of the senior and middle-rung police officers know the city well, having been here for long. But even local criminals manage to `hoodwink' the law enforcers, or the law enforcers seem to turn a blind eye, with the result that common people are left to fend for themselves.

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