Chennai's new police commissioner A Arun vows to address 'police corruption'

CHENNAI: Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) A Arun took over as the 110th Commissioner of Greater Chennai Police on Monday, replacing DGP Sandeep Rai Rathore, and vowed to address 'police corruption', law and order issues, rowdyism and katta panchayats on priority.

ADGP S Davidson Devasirvatham will assume Arun's erstwhile post – ADGP, Law and Order. Outgoing Police Commissioner, DGP Sandeep Rai Rathore is posted as DGP, Police Training College and will hold the additional role as Director, Tamil Nadu Police Academy.

The new commissioner's mention of 'police corruption' holds significance as highly placed sources said the slain BSP leader K Armstrong's alleged role in the murder of Arcot Suresh was kept off the records despite credible information about Armstrong's role in the 2023 murder.

Fielding questions about Friday's murder of the BSP leader and theories about police not acting despite intelligence inputs about threats to Armstrong's life, the new Commissioner said, "I am not aware of it. I have taken charge only now. If that is the case, I will take action on the officer responsible."

The 1998 batch IPS officer who has served in the city as Deputy Commissioner, Joint Commissioner and Additional Commissioner said there is no use in floating new schemes often as far as policing is concerned. "Police officers should know their responsibilities and act accordingly. If we do professional policing consistently, all crimes will be in check," he said.

Responding to a question about opposition parties' allegations of law and order failure, Commissioner Arun said their statistics show that murder numbers in Chennai and Tamil Nadu have been low for the last two years and stressed that the Chennai police will be aggressive on rowdyism nevertheless.

"We will speak to them (rowdies) in a language they understand," Arun said.

He further assured to address issues with traffic in the city, citing his previous experience in the city as Additional Commissioner (Traffic).

"I thank the government and the Chief Minister for trusting me. We will strive to maintain high standards of law and order through professional policing," Arun said.

It is unclear whether the new Commissioner will also hold additional charge of ADGP (Enforcement Bureau) assigned to him after the hooch tragedy in Kallakurichi after the government removed ADGP Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal.