Chennai: For a locality that is often described as ‘safe’ when compared to other parts of the city, the incidents that have taken place in the last few days in South Chennai have been nothing but alarming.
On 14 April, as we welcomed the Tamil New Year, a brutal crime shook a quaint neighbourhood of Besant Nagar near Elliot’s Beach.
An UK-educated man, whose late father was a Member of Parliament, had allegedly stabbed his mother to death, as she refused to sell the family property. The murder took place at their sea-facing residence in Sixth Avenue, with the heart-wrenching part being the accused’s doctor sister hearing the entire violence unfold over the phone.
In yet another case, a techie was stabbed by her ex-boyfriend with a pen knife in Thiruvanmiyur. The distraught man later attempted suicide by slitting his wrist.
The victim, a 22-year-old software engineer, was a native of Ambur, and was living in an apartment here. As per reports, she was in a relationship with a 23-year-old man for three years and had attended the same engineering college in Kanchipuram. The woman eventually decided to end the affair, as her boyfriend could not land a job anywhere, and hence broke up over the phone.
However, what she faced was threats of dire consequences. Earlier this week, during a meeting, he pulled out a pen knife and stabbed her multiple times on her neck, hands, stomach. He was subsequently caught by the public and handed over to the police.
The area of Pallikaranai saw the arrest of two youths, including an engineering student, for shooting an obscene video of a 17-year-old girl and threatening to post it on social media.
Police said, the girl who was a first-year engineering student, was dating her collegemate of Pallikaranai. One day, on the pretext of discussing marriage, he lured her home, where the video was shot with the help of his friend, who was hiding in the store room.
The victim told the police that post the incident, the boy had been indifferent towards her and demanded money. When she confronted, he showed the video and threatened to post it online.
She is then said to have disclosed the matter to her family, who helped her lodge a complaint.
Police claim that in most cases such as murder and stalking, the accused is a known person to the victims, hence controlling those crimes becomes more challenging. “But we have taken a serious note of the recent incidents and will increase vigil. Already, installation of CCTV cameras has brought down crimes,” a higher official said.