Cops who tackled gangs with iron hand

According to Vijay Kumar, who was the city police chief during the years 2001-2003, the top officials had categorised four to five types of anti-social elements. Small-time antisocials were handled by head constables or sub-inspectors. 

Those in the A+ categories were under the direct supervision of officers in the rank of DC and above. “To confirm antisocials’ illegal activities, we used to compile and compare reports from various units, including from the state Intelligence, before deciding on action to be taken on each such history-sheeter,” recalled Vijay Kumar. The top cop who retired as DGP, is currently serving as security advisor to the Union government.

Tripathy, who was Chennai City Police Commissioner during the year 2011-12, said his officers had various strategies to handle gangsters, according to the situation. The bigger their background and reach, the ranks of officials handling them would be correspondingly higher. 

“History-sheeters kept an eye on police policies and once the right kind of signal is sent, they tend to keep quiet,” noted DGP Tripathy, now heading the TNUSRB, when DT Next contacted him. He pointed out that whatever the action, the aim should be to ensure that the common man enjoyed a sense of security.