Patrol up as thieves on the prowl

VRIDDHACHALAM: Residents of Vriddhachalam are now living in a constant state of peril as over the last two months more than 20 incidents of theft and one incident where a woman was murdered for her jewellery have been reported. On Saturday night, when a three-member gang grab-bed a bag containing 15 sovereigns of gold jewels from a woman who runs a pawn shop here, it only added to their fear.Dhanalakshmi, a resident of Pugazendhi Street who runs a pawn shop named ‘Lavanya’ at Periyar Nagar, was returning home after work at 9.30 pm on Saturday. Three persons who came by motorbike robbed her bag in which she was taking 15 sovereigns of gold jewels home.So far the police have arrested six persons — Rajadurai, Manikandan, Chandrasekar, Manikandan, Veerappan and Siva — for burglaries and are on the look-out for others.Meanwhile, Vriddhachalam MLA Muthukumar petitioned to north zone IG Sylendra Babu, urging him to intensify police protection in this area and also deploy additional cops.He has sought for two police stations to be set up, one for town and one for taluk, by splitting the Vriddhachalam station.Speaking to Express, Sylendra Babu said, “Police have stepped up night patrols. Also a gang, which was involved in criminal activities, has been arrested. People should not panic as measures have been taken to prevent such incidents in the future at Vriddhachalam.”Despite his assurances, the list of robberies is long and is still fresh in the minds of the residents here.On December 27, a five-sovereign chain was  snatched from Amutha at V N R Nagar. While the murder of Vi-mala Devi from ThiruVee Ka Nagar on January 21 sent shock waves in this area. The murderers left with thirty sovereign of jewels.