Speaking to reporters at the Commissionerate after handing over to owners 246 sovereigns of jewels that were stolen and recovered , Rajendran said, ‘At present, each police station has 70 policemen and it has to be doubled’.
Briefing the newsmen on the Ashok Nagar murder case, he said it has been solved with the arrest of a carpenter for murdering Kala (42), wife of chartered accountant Subramanian, in her apartment recently .
He said the carpenter Anand (35) of Tondiarpet was a regular visitor to the house. Anand, allegedly an alcoholic, was desperately in need of money as he had lost a huge sum in horse racing. On the fateful day, Anand had demanded a huge amount from Kala. That sparked off a quarrel leading to Kala asking him to leave the house.
Anand who came with the knife threatened her and when she refused to part with the money, he stabbed her and took Rs 10,000 from her wallet, besides taking 18 sovereigns of jewels and a mobile phone from the house before leaving.
Anand was known to the family for more than four years and he was engaged in sofa repair work in the house, the Commissioner said.
When he made his visit on 17 January Kala was not at home. So he waited outside the apartment and rushed in as soon as she returned from the gym, he added.
Kala welcomed him in and went to the kitchen to make tea for him. Anand followed her to the kitchen and asked her for the money.
Though Anand was listed as one of the persons whom the police wanted to question in connection with the case as he was a not a regular visitor to the house. And it was the stolen mobile phone that helped the police catch him outside the city. It took time for the police to trace him as he had kept the phone switched off most of the time, he said.
The police chief also said that six persons had been arrested in connection with a series of chain- snatching incidents at Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Besant Nagar, Neelankarai, Velachery and Thoraipakkam and seized 85 sovereigns of jewels worth Rs 14.15 lakh from them.
Mylapore police has solved nine theft and chain- snatching cases and seized 23 sovereigns of jewels, Rs 75,000 in cash and a car.
