Chennai: A posting in the Railway Police is generally considered dull and dusty, but not for senior IPS officer Pon Manickavel. Recently transferred as IG, Railway Police, the tough cop has already launched into top gear and issued a bomb of a circular telling his officers and men they should report crime to him “within 120 seconds of coming to know of it”.
The ‘drill’ runs round the clock, which could well mean that Pon will not sleep and that brings to fore the adage: It’s difficult to keep a tough cop quiet.
Within a couple of days of assuming charge, Pon Manickavel has issued the circular to the 45 railway police stations telling them strictly he should be informed of any crime coming under their jurisdiction within two minutes of coming to know of it. He has also listed out his office and mobile numbers, besides those of his camp staff and the two drivers who are with him in shifts 24x7.
The IG has also listed out the categories of crimes that must be quickly reported to him for instructions and speedy action—dacoity, robbery, theft (barring cell phone and laptop), murder, all 174 CrPC cases (unnatural death) and all offences against human body.
“Now that this man has come, we will not have any rest, leave alone sleep.
He will keep running all the time and would expect us also to run along”, rued a ‘seasoned’ sub-inspector.
Pon Manickavel has always been on roller skates, wherever he went and how much ever ‘unglamorous’ the posting is. Even during his previous stint, he turned the ‘innocuous ‘Idol Wing into a high-voltage department with its modest posse of men and officers chasing international crooks holding priceless idols stolen from decrepit temples in Tamil Nadu.
It goes to the credit of Pon Manickavel that he retrieved ancient idols, stolen and smuggled out of the state, from collectors and famous museums abroad, particularly the 1000-year-old idols of Lord Nataraja and Ardhanariswara retrieved from an Australian museum.
The officer’s efforts led to the Australian PM Tony Abbott handing over the stolen idols to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi during his visit in September 2015.
